Shopping the Korean Way

To a point the promotional materials are correct, especially if you are merely passing through and have a fistful of won at your disposal, and even more so if you are Japanese, as Korea truly offers bargain buying.

For most 'aliens' though, the story can be quite different. Korea, quite simply, has a different retail culture to what is experienced 'back home'.

The western department store culture, which predicates an individual's liberty to wander the aisles at leisure and closely inspect items at will, is quite at odds with the Korean 'way' which places emphasis on social interaction.

Some retailers here have come to grips with the western egocentric shopping habits. In areas such as Insa-dong and any of the shopping precincts near the US bases, consumers will find that they are often left alone to browse the vendor's wares, receiving assistance only once they ask for it.

Away from these districts, however, it is quite the norm for a friendly sales clerk to breeze up to a new customer and stand watching every move, all in the name of customer service.

For all their good intentions these Korean sales staff have little understanding of the disconcertment that this can cause foreigners who are not used to being 'assisted' in their purchases.

As with all cultural contradictions, a few simple words can often be enough to ameliorate the uneasiness of the situation. 'Kookyon halkeyo - I am just browsing,' accompanied by a smile, will usually impart the appropriate message.

More recently some of the newer and bigger department stores have come to embrace the concept of shopping as entertainment, and these venues offer a more familiar, if more sterile, climate. Here the western veneer, which is obvious in the contemporary upbeat life of Seoul, is highly polished.

Nevertheless, these stores are not your familiar Wal Mart and their staff come from a long history of customs and conventions rooted in Confucian philosphy, factors which consciously and subconcsiously influence their practises.

These give rise to situations which foreigners may find confusing, puzzling or just plain irritating. In these circumstances the only form of reprieve for someone with little or no Korean language lies in the understanding that the Korean people are genuinly trying to help their customers.

While shopping in Korea can prove difficult at times a display of patience and the use of some creative communication can usually overcome the predicaments.

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