Apps, new designs help prop up stagnant calendar market

About 50,000 people have downloaded a mobile app of a calendar with the open recruiting schedules of companies released by Incruit, an employment portal site, in August. The number of downloads surpassed the app developer`s expectations.

The app clearly marks the open recruiting schedules of companies and automatically updates the schedules. An alarm feature helps users to not miss important dates.

The calendar market has shrunk as companies have reduced orders due to a prolonged economic downturn. Calendars equipped with new functions have been introduced, including mobile calendars run on smartphones. These mobile functional calendars containing customized information help users to better manage their schedules and have grown popular with the spread of smartphones.

○ Variety of uses

A 38-year-old woman who has been married for one year manages her schedule on the app “Woman`s Log” by Proactive App. The app shows menstrual periods, ovulation dates and childbearing periods. If a woman is pregnant, the app displays the development of pregnancy each week. She said, “I married late but I’m so busy at work that I often miss ovulation dates. I am using this app to get pregnant.”

One calendar app also helps improve productivity at work. An employee of Hyundai Steel developed the calendar to inform the shift schedules to fellow staff and those at Hyundai Hysco. Other companies then requested the calendar. As a result, the app is used by 133 companies, including GS Caltex, LG Chem, Kumho Tire and Hyundai Heavy Industries.

○ Adapting to trends

Paper calendars that cater to the needs of today’s customers have also grown more popular. An average of 100 million calendars are known to be printed a year in Korea.

Lotte Department Store, which gathered ideas for calendars from employees, ordered a desk calendar that is portable and has more space for taking notes.

Demographic factors, such as the increase in single-person households and the preference for small homes, also affect calendar design. The size of furniture and ornaments has grown smaller as the number of smaller homes increases. Cho Ung-yong, marketing team chief at the stationery company Hot Tracks, said, “Small and big-size calendars that stick to the wall are popular because these allow customers to use space more effectively.”

bright@donga.com