As we all know, it's cheap to shop in duty-free shops. In particular, many sister paper like to go shopping in South Korea, but there are also some long-lived residents in South Korea who go to duty-free shops to buy things and then return their tickets to earn a price difference! In the future, these behaviors should be careful.
In recent years, some foreigners who have lived in South Korea for a long time have come up with the idea of duty-free cosmetics shops. They buy air tickets and go shopping in duty-free shops in the urban areas. Then they cancel their air tickets and resell duty-free cosmetics to the black market to earn a price difference. The price of the same cosmetics sold on the black market is only about half of the price of the Korean counter. To this end, the South Korean government announced on the 13th that it will take severe punishment measures against those fake passengers who only buy duty-free goods but do not leave the country, so as to prevent the return of duty-free goods to the South Korean market.
"The number of foreigners who often cancel air tickets and buy duty-free goods is as high as 10000," Seoul Economic Daily reported on the 13th. Among foreigners living in South Korea, there have been "people who specialize in duty-free shops" in recent years. After shopping in duty-free shops in the city with exit tickets, these people cancel their tickets and use the same method again and again to hoard a large number of duty-free goods (mainly cosmetics). These large quantities of duty-free goods are suspected to be 'returned' to the Korean market, seriously disrupting the market order and damaging the vital interests of Korean cosmetic retailers.
According to statistics, from 2014 to October 2016, 8129 foreigners cancelled their air tickets after shopping in duty-free shops in the city, and they purchased 53.5 billion won (1000 won is about 6 yuan). On the 13th, South Korea's Customs Department announced that it will introduce severe punishment measures to ban foreigners who cancel air tickets more than five times in three months and purchase duty-free cosmetics and other duty-free goods of more than 50 million won from buying duty-free goods within one year, and conduct follow-up investigation on these people to find out whether they have collusion with large retailers on the black market.
The report said that as early as last August, the South Korean government introduced similar measures, but did not specify specific implementation details at that time, resulting in little effect. Customs officials said on the 12th that they will officially release and implement specific plans to prevent the return of duty-free goods to the South Korean market in the near future.
Kim Byung wook, a member of South Korea's parliament who has long been concerned about the issue, said on the 13th that the wholesale price of cosmetics from cosmetics companies in South Korea is 7000 won, which can be seen on the Internet that the same product is only 5000 won. This has aroused strong dissatisfaction in South Korea's cosmetics retail industry, saying that "unless duty-free goods are returned to the domestic market, there will be no return." Which counter can afford such a low price. Mr Kim Bing wook said that it is illegal to sell duty-free goods in the domestic market, and necessary measures should be taken to eliminate it.
In early April this year, South Korea's "Culture Daily" once published a special report that a large number of duty-free cosmetics "returned" to the South Korean market, seriously infringing the vital interests of South Korean cosmetics retailers. For example, at present, the Korean masque sells for 20 thousand won, which sells on some cosmetics websites only for 10 thousand won, and a "duty-free shop genuine warranty" is attached.
It is reported that 'fake passengers' buy cosmetics in duty-free shops in the city and then sell them to middlemen to earn 2% - 5% profits. The latter then sell these duty-free cosmetics to consumers through social media and other channels, and the price is far lower than the counter price. In this context, the Korean Federation of cosmetics franchisees held a meeting in front of Lotte duty-free shop in central Seoul in mid March this year, demanding that duty-free products also follow the example of military supplies, and clearly mark the words "duty-free products" on cosmetics containers and packages, so as to prevent duty-free cosmetics from mixing into the domestic market of South Korea and ensure the legitimate interests of cosmetics retailers. In December last year, there was also a petition post on the petition website of "asking the government to crack down on the illegal sale of duty-free cosmetics in the domestic market". The petition was praised by more than 3000 people.
In fact, the relevant authorities in South Korea have long noticed the loopholes in the "on-site pick-up system for duty-free goods in the city" and demanded the abolition of the "on-site pick-up system for duty-free goods" and the implementation of the "foreign tourists are required to pick up goods in the airport duty-free shops after shopping in the City duty-free shops". However, this move has aroused the concern of the duty-free shop industry, which believes that it will bring inconvenience to foreign tourists' shopping, and then lead to a decline in the sales of the whole duty-free shop industry. Moreover, if all foreign tourists are allowed to pick up the goods in the duty-free shops in the airport or port, it is inevitable that there will be a chaotic scene of long queues in the duty-free shop area, which will bring inconvenience to other consumers.
Is there no way to deal with it? The most effective way is to mark duty-free goods on duty-free goods, KBS television reported on the 13th. Amori Pacific and LG life health, two major companies that account for 80% of the cosmetics market in South Korea, said recently that they will label products sold in duty-free shops in the city as early as the end of May.
In response, some skeptical voices said that the way of labeling or stamping is not reliable, and the word "duty-free" should be printed directly on the product container. However, this move was opposed by cosmetics companies. A person in the industry said: 'printing the words & lsquo; duty-free & quot; directly on cosmetic containers is not expensive, but it brings inconvenience to inventory management. This is because cosmetics companies adopt unified inventory management for the commodities provided to Korean cosmetics retailers and duty-free shops. If the words "duty free" are printed on the container, the goods can no longer be provided to Korean retailers. '