Air Pollution Clouds Spring Clothing Sales
06 April, 2019
Spring is here, but retailers have yet to see a thaw in frozen consumer spending. Unseasonable cold spells and toxic smog are partly to blame for slumping sales of outdoor wear, and air cleaners and other air purification products are outselling spring clothes in department stores.
Shinsegae Department Store said Thursday that it is starting special sales of air-purifying plants at key branches across Korea on Friday.
Normally malls focus on flogging spring clothing at this time of year, but instead they try to make hay by marketing products that help consumers deal with bad air quality.
One retail insider said, "People are opting to stay indoor this spring due to fine dust pollution, which dealt a major blow to spring clothes sales but increased interest in vacuum cleaners and air purifiers."
Shinsegae saw air purifier sales surge a whopping 560 percent on-year in the first week of March, when fine dust levels soared in Seoul and surrounding cities.
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