Homebound Koreans Buy More Appliances, Furniture

Sales of tablet PCs also rose three percent on-year in March, 16 percent in April, 45 percent in May and a whopping 60 percent in June. Huh Jae-min, a staffer at Lotte Hi-Mart, said, “As more and more people stay home and watch YouTube, Netflix and other online media, demand is rising for devices with bigger screens than smartphones.”

The same trend was apparent for beds and furniture. Simmons Bedding Company achieved record monthly sales of W23 billion in May of this year (US$1=W1,200). Alarm bells rang in April, when sales plummeted almost 30 percent on-year, but they rebounded quickly the following month.

Simmons now projects sales to reach W220 billion this year, surpassing the previous record of W203.8 billion set in 2019.

Hanssem, Korea’s largest furniture maker, is expected to see second-quarter earnings this year surpass the level reached a year ago. Stock analysts forecast Hanssem’s second-quarter revenues to reach W450 billion, up around 10 percent on year.

Consumer spending used to be spread out between many different products but is now focused on a set range of goods for home use.

At Simmons, high-priced beds costing between W3 million and W4 million accounted for more than half of its sales, and sales of beds priced at over W5 million are also increasing.

A Lotte Hi-Mart staffer said, “Expensive products like 65-inch OLED TVs are selling better.” Industry watchers say newlywed couples are splurging on home appliances since they cannot travel overseas for their honeymoon.