Save 80,000 won Compared with Large Discount Stores... Traditional Markets Offer the Lowest Prices for Chuseok Memorial Tables

[Financial News] A survey found that this year’s Chuseok ancestral memorial table will cost 18.4% less when purchased at a traditional market than at a large discount store, and 4.8% less than when purchased through an online platform.
 On September 15, the Small Enterprise and Market Service compared prices for 28 items used in Chuseok ancestral memorial ceremonies at 37 traditional markets, 37 nearby large discount stores, and two online platforms during the first week of September. The cost of preparing a memorial table for four people was 352,553 won at traditional markets, 432,062 won at large discount stores, and 370,367 won on online platforms.
 The cost at traditional markets was 79,509 won, or 18.4%, lower than at large discount stores and 17,814 won, or 4.8%, lower than on online platforms.
 By category, vegetables showed the largest price gap, costing 52.7% less at traditional markets than at large discount stores. Seafood followed at 32.2%, and meat at 16.9%.
 Compared with online platforms, vegetables were 36.9% cheaper at traditional markets, fruit was 24.6% cheaper, and seafood was 17.5% cheaper.
 Of the 28 items surveyed, 22 were cheaper at traditional markets than at large discount stores.
 The largest price gap was recorded for peeled bellflower root, at 71.9%. It was followed by bracken at 68.6%, frozen pollock fillets at 43.1%, jujubes at 37.8%, songpyeon at 36.2%, beef for soup at 28.1%, and spinach at 25.3%.
 Compared with online platforms, traditional markets offered lower prices for 18 of the 28 items.
 Peeled bellflower root was 57.6% cheaper. The largest price gaps thereafter were recorded for Fuji apples at 51.3%, bracken at 46.8%, yellow croaker at 39.7%, grapes at 32.4%, dried persimmons at 30.3%, and yakgwa at 27.2%.
 In Tae-yeon, chairman of the Small Enterprise and Market Service, said, "An additional purchase limit of 200,000 won for Digital Onnuri Gift Certificates will be available from the 16th to the 20th, along with a 10% discount. We hope consumers will use the results of this survey to prepare economically for the holiday at traditional markets, helping ease household burdens and revitalize local commercial districts."
[email protected] Kim Hyun-cheol Reporter