Grocery shopping also involves checking 'specs'…premium competition in department store food sections.

Customers are selecting fruits at the Lotte Department Store's Nowon branch's underground floor 1 premium grocery store 'Le Piccery'. Lotte Department Store opened Le Piccery at its Nowon branch in March of this year and introduced its own fruit brand 'With Farmer', which bears the names of excellent producers. Won Mo, a 32-year-old office worker in Seoul's Jung-gu district, has been visiting the department store's food section once or twice a week on his way home from work for a year. Won said, "I started visiting the department store because it is difficult to find high-sugar fruits and many imported items elsewhere, and it is also advantageous that I can ask the department store staff about freshness, marbling condition, and breed when selecting meat." As more consumers like Won meticulously examine the quality of food ingredients as they would electronic products, the department store industry is striving to strengthen its competitiveness in groceries. They are introducing ...