Internet Shopping in Korea for Expats
By Emma Dooley
Shopping as an expat in Korea located outside of Seoul can at times be a difficult task, especially when you’re looking for Western goods. English books tend to be limited to the latest bestsellers and popular series like Harry Potter and Twilight in Gwangju bookstores (the Yeongpung store at the bus terminal has the largest selection). Western foods can be found in large Lotte Marts, as well as at Homeplus, E-mart and of course, The Underground Grocers. The basement foodhalls of Lotte Department Store and Shinsegae can also turn up some Western surprises. There are several websites that can make life a little easier when it comes to shopping, and a selection of these has been detailed below. This is by no means an exhaustive list of websites, but it does cover all the essentials.
Books and Magazines
What the Book is an English language bookstore based in Itaewon in Seoul and their online catalogue boasts over a million titles. As well as the latest fiction, you can also purchase used books and magazines (either year-long subscriptions or individual copies). Delivery is free on many orders and two-day shipping is available. To use the site you must set up an account. Payments can be made with a Korean or International credit card or via bank transfer.
The Book Depository is an online bookseller based in the UK. Its warehouses hold over six million titles and shipping is free on everything, worldwide (including Korea). Prices tend to be significantly cheaper than those of What the Book, although shipping takes a little longer (usually a week or so).
Vitamins, Supplements and Food
iHerb is an American online retailer selling vitamins, supplements and a plethora of health foods, including a wide range of gluten-free items. It also sells cosmetics, skincare, baby food, diapers and home cleaning products, all of the environmentally-friendly variety. Shipping is extremely fast (around four days) and, from personal experience, the customer service is to be commended. If you enter the code TEK651 at checkout, you will receive $5 off your first order. Shipping to Korea is currently half-price if you spend over $60.
Baking School’s website is entirely in Korean, so you may need a Korean friend to help you navigate it, but the prices make it worth the extra effort.
Multipurpose Sites
Nice Market (formerly Nice Deli) is primarily a food site, although it also has a small selection of English board games and a wide selection of kitchen equipment, from ovens to Pyrex dishes. A range of seaweed skincare products from Jeju Island is also available. The minimum order is 25,000 won and deliveries are made once a week on a Wednesday or a Friday. Delivery charges range from 5,550 won to 7,500 won and payments can be made via bank transfer or PayPal.
EZ Shop Korea is a site which allows you to shop at Costco online. There is also a “non-Costco” section, but the selection of items is very small and several listed categories are empty of products. Delivery is made 2-3 days following your order and payments can be made via bank transfer or credit card. Orders over 250,000 won are shipped free. EZ Shop Korea operates a points system where you can earn points on all purchases and then use them as part-payment for future orders.
Fatbag is a relatively new site, with products still be added on a weekly basis. Fatbag markets itself as a shopping Mecca for foreigners in Korea and the bulk of its products are from IKEA. There is a serious discrepancy between Fatbag and IKEA.com prices though, with some items more than double or even triple the IKEA price. Fatbag also has a selection of organic foods, as well as a global foods section and fairly extensive amount of Korean arts and crafts items.
Fatbag accepts all major credit cards (both Korean and foreign) and payments can also be made by bank transfer. One benefit of Fatbag is that customers can avail of online customer support in English. Various shipping options are available, including same-day delivery. IF you ‘Like’ Fatbag on Facebook, you will receive a 1,000 won discount on one order.
GMarket sells everything from furniture to food to clothing and is perhaps the most popular Internet shopping site for expats in Korea, although it is, to put it mildly, quite difficult to use. The following tutorial makes the purchasing process considerably easier: http://worldbeyblade.org/Thread-How-to-use-Korean-Gmarket.
Lingerie
Audace Lingerie is a store in Seoul (run by Frenchwoman Gina François) which caters for female expats and stocks cup sizes from A to H. While not technically an online store, this is probably for the best as an in-person fitting is key to finding the right size for you. The collection may be viewed online and prices can be emailed on request.
A version of this article appeared in the March 2012 Gwangju News print edition.