KITA organizes a business meeting event to promote exports of consumer goods produced by Korea SMEs in conjunction with KCON 2022 JAPAN ？ a K-pop concert event held in Tokyo

Japanese customers paid a visit to a B2C sales exhibition and are taking a look at items produced by Korean SMEs. This sales exhibition was held in conjunction with KCON 2022 JAPAN on October 15 in Tokyo, Japan. 

The Korea International Trade Association, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Foundation for Large Enterprises - SMEs - Agricultural & Fisheries Industry Cooperation and CJ ENM co-hosted two types of four-day events held from October 13^th to 16^th - a B2B meeting event aimed at promoting exports to Japan and a B2C sales exhibition, which took place in conjunction with “KCON 2022 JAPAN” held in Tokyo.

These events were organized to support Korean small and medium-sized enterprises that produce consumer goods to take full advantage of the popularity of the Korean culture in the Japanese market as exchanges between Korea and Japan are expected to see a boost with the resumption of visa-free travels between the two countries.

The B2B business meeting event was participated by 30 Korean companies producing consumer goods, including those specializing in beauty products, household items and fashion items. They engaged in individual business meetings to promote their items for exports with 75 potential Japanese clients, including L&K Japan - a company that operates Cos:mura, which is a network of cosmetics franchise shops in Korea, and Shaddy - a company specializing in household items, which is also an affiliate company of a Japanese duty-free retailor LAOX.

Bomi Jeong, the CEO of Somikyung - a firm that designs and produces contemporary Hanbok items - mentioned, “I decided to take part in the event as I received positive feedbacks on Hankok items from Japanese international students in Korea.” The CEO added, “I expect satisfactory results since there were a number of Japanese clients who showed high interest in purchasing our items.”

Aside from the B2B business meeting event, a sales exhibition was also held to promote sales and items made by Korean small and medium-sized enterprises specializing in consumer goods. This exhibition aimed at attracting concertgoers who attended “KCON 2022 JAPAN”, which was held from October 14^th 16^th at Ariake Arena in Tokyo. Meanwhile, KITA announced that it will start a promotion to offer discount coupons on shipping fees for purchases made at Kmall24 - a B2C online shopping mall run by KITA that offers a wide array of popular Korean-made products to international customers. The organization also announced that it launched an event to offer “KCON 2022 JAPAN” tickets for those who purchased items at the B2C sales exhibition. KITA expects these efforts to translate into boosting sales during the event and supporting exports via online channels for Korean companies.

Hyunchul Kim, the Vice President for International Affairs Group at the KITA, explained, “The events being held today have been planned as follow-up events after the Korean Product Exhibition held earlier in June in Tokyo, with an objective to target the gradually recovering Japanese domestic consumer goods market.” He also said, “We expect to see much active bilateral exchanges between Korea and Japan with the resumption of visa-free travels, along with this year’s Japan-bound exports between January and September increasing by 10.8% compared to the same period of last year” and added, “KITA will reinforce measures to provide relevant assistance in line with such changing trends in the market.”

[This news is provided by Korea Trade News]