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| Home plus employees promote Brabantia frying pans during a sale at a Seoul outlet of the discount store. / Courtesy of Home plus |
By Lee Hyo-sik
Home plus has tried to outshine its rivals in terms of price competitiveness by directly importing fruits and other fresh goods, and offering them at reasonable prices.
This time, the leading discount store chain has turned its eyes to imported frying pans and other household items to further enhance its competitive edge.
The company said Wednesday that it signed a supply contract with a manufacturing firm that owns the license of Dutch brand Brabantia to import frying pans directly from it.
Thanks to the direct dealing, Home plus said it can offer Brabantia frying pans at much lower prices than other local sellers, which buy the items from sales agents or brokers.
The pans are priced between 39,000 won and 42,000 won at online shopping malls, according to Home plus officials. But the retailer set the price at 14,900 won. Those purchasing the pans until this Friday can get it for only 12,900 won, it said.
"Brabantia is the 98-year-old brand popular with many European households for its simple but sleek design, and high-product quality," a Home plus official said. "Besides the frying pans, the brand offers ironing boards and other household items in more than 100 countries."
The official said Home plus was able to lower the import price by purchasing the pans in large quantities in advance.
"We offered to buy more than 10,000 pans, which significantly lowered the purchase price per unit. Buying large quantities also reduces logistics and storage costs. We also eliminated middlemen by directly dealing with the manufacturer. This enables us to offer the lowest price to our customers," he said.
The discount store also plans to bring a wide range of items made by other European brands.
"In particular, we are interested in finding products that have never been introduced to local consumers," the official said. "Our purchase managers travel around the world to discover household items that could appeal to Korean consumers. We will continue to provide rare but high-quality consumer products at value prices."
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