“Bring in the Chinese Guests“

`Bring in the Chinese guests.`

Korean commercial businesses are preparing a `Special Chinese World Cup Procurement` in order to draw in Chinese fans.

▽ Learn Chinese = Shinsege Mall, E-Mart will start instructing sales employees in Chinese in January and will publish brochures in Chinese. It also plans to employ a minimum of 1000 Korean-Chinese and those who are fluent in Chinese to make up a staff of 3 to 4 employees per each sale department.

Hyundai Home Shopping will begin a one-hour customer service program in Chinese and Korean via satellite television next March. It also plans to create a same-day delivery service for Chinese buyers.

Shopping centers such as Lotte and Hyundai, and discount stores like Magnet, Homeplus, Carrefour are planning to broadcast their announcements in both Korean and Chinese. Majority of businesses will teach Chinese to their employees and install Chinese help menus. Walmart has already installed on in its retail branch stores.

Western restaurants such as Tony Romas and Skylark are putting together menus in Chinese and Japanese or changing the menus to accommodate Chinese tastes.

One managing employee of Newcore, which is organizing a special business department for the World Cup, said, "I cannot specify details for security reasons but Chinese language classes are a given. Anything that is a principal attraction for Chinese people will be used without question."

▽ `What will Chinese people buy?` Analysis = Research on Chinese consumers` preferred merchandise and tastes is fervent. Shinsege is studying the order lists for its Shanghai e-mart. Aekyung Mall is planning to expand to two World Cup corners in the Inchon International Airport Duty Free shopping center.

A Shinsege source said, "We don`t know whether Chinese customers will actually buy a lot of merchandise in Korea. But since it is a good opportunity to raise our brands` reputation in the Chinese market with its infinite possibilities, everyone is strategizing as if this were a matter of life and death."

Lee Heon-Jin mungchii@donga.com