Economic Downturn Corks Wine Popularity

Koreans love wine. Not just ordinary or cheap wine BUT EXPENSIVE WINE. But now, bottles of fine "vino" are being marked down on everything-must-go sales.

Why?

The economic downturn is the main reason. Sales are declining because people tend to turn to more economic choices.

Shinsegae, Lotte and Hyundai, the country's top three department stores that each run a sizeable wine shop, said that wine sales from January to March have sunk about 5 percent on-year.

This is a sharp turnaround compared to the solid two-digit growth the largely imported products have been showing over the past three years.

Moon Jae-yong, manager of the wine shop at Lotte Depaartment Store, explained that the weak Korean won has driven up prices by almost 25 percent this year alone, pushing away even consumers who've enjoyed the less-expensive selections.

And the ongoing sales decline is piling up inventory ― so much that retailers are offering discounts of up to 90 percent.

Lotte recently introduced 600 different types of wines from around the world at prices 35 to 80 percent cheaper than usual. Even the most high-end labels from France were marked down by 50 percent.

Lotte's competitors Shinsegae and Hyundai seem to have deployed the same trick, as they too slashed prices dramatically.

But despite the blowout bargains, consumers don't seem to be excited about popping the cork.

Such consumer patterns of avoiding wine bars have led dozens of once popular wine bars to go out of business in downtown Seoul districts.