Daesang Launches Chuseok Gift Sets

Daesang has released the Chuseok, traditional Korean holiday, gift sets for 2017.

Entering the first quarter of 2017, the Korean economy has showed signs of recovery on the back of rising exports. As the consumer sentiment index continued to hover over 100 until July, consumer expectation sentiment has trended up. Real income has recorded negative growth, however, and domestic consumption sales have maintained a growth rate of 1 percent, and domestic demand remains uncertain, with no spillover into real consumption rise.

Limited consumer spending, caused by weak consumption, is expected to little have little impact on Chuseok gift set sales, and companies are expected to engage in heated marketing competition to retain their existing market standing. To this end, Daesang has put on the market gift sets that are good in substance but reasonable in price, and also diversified in the number of products, allowing consumers to have more choice.

Daesang has released the “Chungjungone Gift Sets,” its best sellers, which are priced at a range of 20,000 to 30,000 won. The sets, mid- to low-priced, have a luxury design that gives both gift givers and receivers satisfaction.

Chungjungone’s representative Chuseok gift sets are “Chungjungone No.8,” comprising of canola oil, fermented brewed soy sauce, vintage brown rice vinegar, canned ham, salmon, and cooking oligosaccharide products, and “Chungjungone No. 9,” including canola oil, sesame oil, natural salt, and canned ham. It has received a good reception due to consumers’ favored prices and the composition of its products.

Attracting attention from consumers are premium soy sauce and paste product sets that make their debut during annual festivals. Among them are “Chapsal Bala Hyeonmi Gochujang,” a fermented glutinous rice & brown rice soybean paste. It’s made with 100 percent top-rated Korean-grown raw materials from Sunchang, the mecca of fermentation, and traditional knowhow; and “Five-year Fermented Soybean Sauce,” a soybean sauce product made with Korean-grown black soybeans and Sunchang’s natural bedrock water. The products are contained in a bottle or a pot like premium alcoholic beverages, which enjoy popularity among gift givers.

Premium oil sets have made their debut anew, giving consumers more room to choose.

Daesang’s gift sets can be purchased from the online shopping mall (www.jungoneshop.com) and discount stores and department stores across the nation.

The online shopping mall offers diverse benefits to customers who buy the Chuseok gift sets. Chungjungone Gift Sets buyers are given a 5,000 won coupon that can be used at the online shopping mall. All buyers benefit from free delivery, and gifts come wrapped in specially arranged packing boxes. An additional 5 percent discount is applied to online orders.

On top of that, online shoppers are given a 10 percent discount coupon after a purchase is made, to be applied to their next transaction. New online shopping mall subscribers are entitled to the same benefits. Large numbers of gift sets can be ordered by calling the online shopping mall at 080-080-8864.

Daesang, 1st Korean Company to Localize Production of Astaxanthin

Daesang Group has dedicated an astaxanthin plant to mass produce the functional ingredient in the Gunsan Bio Production Complex in Jeollabuk-do. Astaxanthin, a powerful antioxidant, had thus far been imported since there were no facilities or technology to produce the antioxidant in Korea.

All astaxanthin production is expected to be supplied to the bio business division of JXTG Hippon Oil & Energy (JXTG NOE), one of Japan’s biggest energy and refining companies. In March 2016, Daesang signed a 30 billion won deal to supply astaxanthin with JXTG NOE.

Astaxanthin has an antioxidant effect 550 times more powerful than Vitamin E. The substance is utilized as an additive for aquaculture feed for fish, including salmon and shrimp, as an antioxidant and functional health food. A report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed that astaxathin has an antioxidant effect more than 6,000 times better than Vitamin C, 800 times more than coenzyme Q10, and 550 times more than catechin, which is in green tea.

Astaxanthin has a natural color to make salmon reddish, giving the farmed fish a more natural color. The substance is used to color shrimp, crab, salmon and sea bream. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved astaxanthin as a functional material of heath and functional foods in 2007, and as a new functional material in 2012. In an early stage of development, astaxanthin was used as a cosmetics raw material due to its ability to block ultraviolet rays, but the substance is now certified as an antioxidant and raw material of nutritional supplements.