South Korea's three largest department store chains are competing on scarcity and premium quality in this year's Chuseok gift lineup. Even with high inflation, demand for something special at the autumn harvest holiday has held up, prompting the retailers to differentiate with offerings that range from Korean beef priced in the millions of won to rare ingredients, collaborations with celebrity chefs, craftworks and travel packages.
Lotte Department Store begins its main Chuseok gift sales on the 4th and will run them through the 23rd, according to retail industry sources on the 3rd. This year the chain built its lineup around three themes: extremely rare, extremely convenient and extremely fresh. It expanded the number of gift set items by about 20% from a year earlier and prepared its largest overall volume on record.
Lotte is introducing a Chikso Ulleung premium set (1.6 kilograms, 660,000 won) for the first time. Only about 200 head of Ulleung chikso, a native Korean breed, are raised each year, and the set selects only 1++ grade cuts for steak and grilling. The retailer is also selling a limited run of Eunpung Junsi dried persimmons (20 pieces, 250,000 won), produced in the Junsi village at the foot of Sobaeksan and known as a tribute item presented to kings during the Joseon Dynasty. Almas Gold Caviar (30 grams, 1.3 million won), regarded as the world's rarest and most expensive caviar, is also on offer.
For its convenience-focused curation, Lotte prepared traditional-sauce dried yellow croaker sets in two sizes. Its extremely fresh premium item, L'Epicerie Dawn Workshop sesame and perilla oil, is pressed at low temperature from sesame and perilla seeds selected on the morning of delivery. The chain is also debuting an AI thank-you card service that recommends greetings suited to the occasion.
Shinsegae will run its Chuseok gift sales from the 7th through the 23rd, offering a range that spans food, traditional culture, craftworks and travel. The lineup centers on the company's premium food brands, including 5-STAR, Shinsegae Amso Hanwoo and Select Farm. Its flagship item is the Premium Hanwoo The Signature set (3.2 million won), which selects cow beef in the top 3% of the 1++ grade. The retailer also offers fruit, dried yellow croaker, hairtail and tilefish sourced from major production regions across the country.
Shinsegae is also strengthening items available only at its stores. The Dessert Salon at House of Shinsegae is presenting modern takes on traditional foods such as hangwa confections and songpyeon rice cakes, while Local is Shinsegae features craftworks by regional artisans and holders of national intangible heritage skills, including white porcelain moon jars and mother-of-pearl inlay work. Through Via Shinsegae, the chain is proposing experience-based gifts such as a European New Year's concert, a Hong Kong culinary tour and a historical trip to Egypt.
Hyundai Department Store will offer about 1,500 Chuseok gift items across meat, seafood, fruit, liquor and lifestyle categories during its main sales period from the 4th through the 24th. For Korean beef sets, the holiday's signature gift, the chain prepared 120,000 sets, a record volume that is 10% more than last year, and expanded its Sodam small-package set lineup. Reflecting demand for premium fruit desserts, it is introducing an H Sweet high-sugar peach set (180,000 won) for the first time. Volumes of mixed fruit sets will increase by more than 30%.
The chain is also rolling out a large number of unconventional gourmet sets developed with influencers and well-known chefs. Highlights include grilled mackerel created with fishing YouTuber Jinseokgi Sidae, a Premium Abalone Porridge With Innards set made from chef Jang Ho-jun's recipe, and Mengzhilan Shougongban Dashiban, a top-tier baijiu recommended by chef Jung Ji-sun.
Jang Woo-seok, executive director of Hyundai Department Store's food business division, said the company designed gift sets unique to Hyundai, from small-package Korean beef sets to influencer collaboration gourmet items and art collaboration sets, in line with increasingly varied holiday gift trends and more segmented customer demand. He added that the retailer plans to manage everything from volume preparation to ordering and delivery with care so that gifts carrying customers' sentiments arrive intact.
