Korea’s retail market size for 2007 is estimated to be US$160.6 billion based on the latest data from the National Statistics Office making it the third largest retail market in Asia after Japan and China.

Korea’s retail market size has grown from US$78.5 billion in 1996 to US$160.6 billion in 2007, recording a CAGR of 6.72% (Source: Korea National Statistics).
The large scale hypermarket/fashion outlet sector comprises 28.5% of the total retail market. Other occupants of the retail market include the traditional market made of small sized local shops responsible for 41%, department store market having a share of 11.7% and TV/online shopping of 14.5%.

  The Korean retail market has a positive mid to long term outlook as key indicators for retail market growth such as GDP and private consumption continue to have strong growth prospects.

  In addition, improvement of consumer sentiment in light of the new government is
expected to further enhance retail consumption in the near term. Another positive aspect of the industry outlook is that the proportion of private consumption as a percentage of GDP is relatively low in Korea in comparison to other developed countries, indicating additional potential for growth.