Global Distribution
Pricing in Korea: display prices and offers
In Korea the discount is set before the list price. What the displayed number is read as including, how bundles, gifts and coupons differ, and five rows for setting your first price.
In Korea, the first number to settle is not the list price but the size of the discount. Promotions run often here, and a price seen on offer again and again is frequently remembered as what the product costs. Set the list price first and cut it later, and returning to the original figure a few months on reads as an increase. Build the number that still works after a discount, then work backwards to the displayed price.
What is the displayed price read as including?
The large number on a selling screen is generally read as the amount you will pay at checkout. Delivery is written outside that number, and when the figure grows at the payment step, questions follow. What has to be included differs by country, so confirm it in advance.
How tax attaches and how it is shown depends on the shape of the sale. Sending parcels one by one across the border and holding stock inside Korea point to different places to check. Fixing where you confirm a rate lasts longer than memorising the rate.
| Item in the price | Inside the displayed number? | Where to confirm |
|---|---|---|
| Tax added on top | Depends on display rules | Responsible authority · local tax agent |
| Domestic delivery | Usually outside · shown separately | Channel's seller guide |
| Charges at import | Depends on the sales terms | Customs broker · customs authority |
| Channel fee · payment share | Outside · carried by the seller | Channel contract · settlement guide |
| Return shipping | Outside · varies by reason | Channel return policy |
The column you use longest is the third. Rates change often; where you confirm them rarely does.
How do bundles, gifts and coupons differ?
All three look like a price cut, but each leaves a different mark. A bundle raises the quantity and pulls the per-unit figure down. A gift leaves the price alone and adds something to the box. A coupon leaves the price alone and comes off at checkout. The last two keep the displayed number intact.
| Tool | Displayed price | What it takes from margin | Confirm before you commit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bundle | New composition, new number | Unit cost × quantity · new packaging | Whether buyers recalculate the per-unit figure |
| Free gift | Unchanged | Cost of the gift · added volume | Whether the gift also needs labelling or approval |
| Channel-run coupon | Unchanged | The seller's share of the discount | Who carries how much |
| Seller-run coupon | Unchanged | The full discount | Period · stacking rules |
| Payment-method offer | Unchanged | Usually outside the seller | How it appears in settlement |
A bundle takes the least work and leaves the longest mark — once the per-unit figure has been calculated, it becomes the reference. If you plan to keep selling singles, change the contents rather than only raising the count.
Where are promotions frequent, and where are they rare?
The rhythm differs by where you sell. The more sellers share one screen, the tighter the promotion calendar; the more the screen is yours alone, the more you set the rhythm yourself. Choosing where to open is choosing how often your price will move.
| Where you sell | Promotion rhythm | Common form | How to hold the price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketplace channels — many sellers on one screen | Tight · channel-run events repeat | Coupons · bundles | Pick which events to join and fix the yearly count |
| Your own store | You set it | Member benefits · gifts | Hold the price and make the difference through benefits |
| Physical stores | Follows the store calendar | Gifts · demonstrations | Vary the contents so singles are not compared directly |
| Live selling broadcasts | Limited to airtime | Limited quantity · bundles | Build a broadcast-only set, separate from the everyday price |
Anywhere, a promotion launched as a one-off that runs again next month is your everyday price from then on. Rather than deciding event by event, write down how many times a year you will take part.
Why does the promotion price become the remembered price?
People judge the next number against the last one they saw. When the same product appears across several screens repeatedly, that reference sets quickly. Return to the original number and it reads as an increase, and more shoppers wait for the next event.
So build the first price in this order. Leave the rate cells empty, write down where to confirm them, and fill them once terms are set.
| Step | What to fill in | Where to confirm |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cost to get it in hand — manufacture · packing · freight · import charges · local storage | Quotations · customs broker |
| 2 | Leave the channel fee and payment share as blanks | Channel seller guide · contract |
| 3 | Set returns and exchanges as a percentage cell | Fill from actual counts in the first 3 months |
| 4 | Decide first how many times a year and by what % you will cut | Your own decision |
| 5 | Check that something remains once step 4 is applied | Compare with the total of rows 1 to 3 |
Fill the five rows and the displayed price follows from the arithmetic. When nothing remains, do not raise the displayed price first — narrow the discount in row 4 instead.
What happens when you run different prices by country?
Different prices by country are natural — freight, tax and the number of distribution steps all differ. But screens cross borders. Some shoppers arrive having seen your price on another country's own store, and where the gap is wide, a flow of buying there and reselling into Korea appears. The numbers do not have to match. Prepare three things instead.
- Write the reason for the gap on one page — freight · import charges · number of distribution steps. This page is the first thing the side handling distribution asks for
- Vary volume, count and contents by country and the numbers no longer compare one to one
- Run a standing discount in one country and partners elsewhere will reopen terms citing it. Keep discount plans in a single table
Decide in advance when the displayed price may change. Adjusting every time freight or the exchange rate moves leaves only an impression of an unsteady number. Set a rhythm — once every six months, say — and adjust in one go.
What to do today
Pick one product and draw the five-row table above. Fill row 1 with the figures you know today, and in rows 2 and 3 write where to confirm instead of numbers. Write "how many times a year, and by what %" in row 4, and the displayed price follows in one line. It takes 30 minutes, and this one sheet is what you bring to channel and distribution meetings.
