Business Consulting
Korea entry budget: four lines for year one
A single total runs out mid-year. How to split a Korea entry budget into one-time, monthly, per-order and stock, which items appear only when you cross a border, and what to cut first.
Once you decide to sell in Korea, do not budget as a single total. Split it into four lines — one-time, monthly, per-order, and money locked in stock. The items that exist only because you are crossing a border sit mostly in the first two lines, and they fall due before the first sale. Splitting the lines shows when you need how much during year one.
How does the budget split into four lines?
The same amount is prepared differently when it goes out once and when it goes out every month.
| Line | What goes in it | When it goes out |
|---|---|---|
| One-time | Trademark filing · certification testing · label-content check · Korean copy · channel registration | Clustered before the first sale |
| Monthly | Warehouse storage · customer contact desk · work tools · keeping a local contact point | Every month from the month you sign |
| Per-order | Channel fees · payment · domestic delivery · returns · label application | On every order sold |
| Locked in stock | Product cost · international freight · what is paid at customs clearance | All at once per shipment |
Three of the four go out even when revenue is 0 won. Decide how many months it takes to reach the first sale, then multiply the monthly total by that number. That figure is the cash you need on hand through the preparation period.
Even if you already sell at home, label content, certification, trademark and customs start over country by country. Mark only those rows on the budget sheet.
What sets the amount for each item?
Most of it comes down to counts — the number of product categories, of selling units, of documents. A selling unit is one item you manage separately, such as a color or a volume.
| Item | What sets the amount | Where to check |
|---|---|---|
| Trademark filing | Number of classes filed | Published fee schedule · agent quote |
| Certification · testing | Product category and number of test items | Ask the responsible authority, product named |
| Label content | Number of items to state in Korean · how it is affixed | Labeling rules for that category |
| Translation · copy | Character count and review rounds | Count the copy volume first |
| Warehouse storage | Number of storage units and duration | Request a quote with your expected quantity |
| Channel registration | Number of channels and documents required | Each channel's registration guide |
The right-hand column can be filled in today even with the amount unknown. Three rows are enough to see where the total is decided.
A trademark is registered country by country — a home registration does not carry over on its own. Label content is likewise set per product category for sales in Korea. For both, order matters more than the amount. Check late and you remake printed packaging and shot images together.
How do you count one order and the stock?
Per-order items are written for a single order. Subtract every row below from the selling price and you get what is left on one order; that number decides how much ad budget you can add.
| Charged on one order | What it varies with |
|---|---|
| Channel fee | The place you sell and the product category |
| Payment | The mix of payment methods you accept |
| Domestic delivery | Box size and weight · destination |
| Returns · exchanges | Return address and how goods are collected |
| Label application · repacking | Handling work after goods arrive |
The arithmetic works better with the return address inside Korea — sending goods back home often costs more to collect than the goods are worth.
Stock is not a cost line; count it as money locked. It goes out all at once per shipment and comes back only as units sell. Crossing a border adds international freight and what is paid at clearance. Those follow the product's classification, so check the classification first and ask a customs agent with the product and quantity written down.
Next to the locked amount, write the time until the next shipment lands — production, sailing, clearance and inbound handling all sit inside it, so it is longer than selling at home. The first shipment has to cover that period.
Which items are easy to miss at the start?
These get missed not because they are large, but because at home they were already in place and never had to be counted.
| Missed item | When it comes up |
|---|---|
| Sample import | Before testing and channel registration — small quantities clear customs too |
| Korean sticker application | At the first inbound · the work scales with quantity |
| Return address | From the month you start selling |
| Korea-hours response | Inquiry hours do not line up with home working hours |
| Document translation and checks | Before channel registration and contracts |
| Contingency | The line that covers the items above |
Keep contingency as one row beside the one-time total. Set it against the items that are not fixed in one go — printing, testing, clearance.
What do you cut first when the budget is fixed?
One test — will doing it later mean throwing away what you already made? Cut first the things that can be added later without losing the earlier step.
- Reduce the first shipment and split the order in two — the amount locked up front drops the most
- Narrow to one place to sell — every channel adds its own documents, image specs and settlement cycle
- Cut the number of images and videos — fix the Korean copy first, attach creative after
Label content, certification checks and the return address stay to the end. Postpone them and you rebuild earlier steps after sales have started. Write down what rises when you cut, too — splitting an order raises the unit cost and the freight rate.
What changes when you plan in your home currency?
Approval comes in your home currency while spending goes out mostly in Korean won. When the value between the two moves, the same plan becomes a different amount. Add two columns to the sheet — the spending currency and the conversion date.
Without a fixed date you convert at a different point each quarter and cannot lay plan over actual. Fix one row at the value on the approval date, then write a row below it recalculated at each quarter's value. That separates a gap that came from the plan from one that came from the currency.
Payment arrives in won, and you change currency once more when moving it home. Set the timing and frequency in advance and this row keeps the same shape every month. Mark on the calendar the dates when a large amount is fixed at once, as stock is.
What to do today
Pick the month of your first planned sale on a calendar and count the months from today to it. Then list only the monthly items you already know, total them, and multiply by that number of months. That is the amount you need while nothing has sold yet. It takes 30 minutes, and it sets the size of the other three lines.
