Seoul successfully copies a US strategy to boost retail sales

Seoul

SOUTH Korea is trying to stem a drop in retail spending by replicating an American shopping tradition - Black Friday. More than 34,000 stores, including three-quarters of the country's department stores, slashed prices by as much as 80 per cent in the Korean version of bargain-oriented Black Friday through Oct 14.

The two-week campaign was launched by the government in an effort to offset sales lost to online commerce and to attract shoppers from China and elsewhere back into stores.

In Korea, stores already hurt by online shopping were dealt another blow by the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or Mers, this year, which led to a 12 per cent drop in re…