There’s something a little strange happening in the Chuseok gift market.
Chuseok is one of Korea’s biggest holidays, and giving gifts to family, relatives, and others is a familiar part of the season.
At large supermarkets, practical gift sets priced under ₩50,000 (about $35) are popular.
At department stores, however, premium gifts priced above ₩500,000 (about $350) also account for a significant share.
That’s a price difference of more than tenfold.
People keep talking about the rising cost of living.
So why, in the same Chuseok gift market, are such different spending choices appearing at the same time?
💰 Is Korea’s economic polarization showing up in gift spending?
One explanation comes to mind immediately.
“Maybe people simply have very different amounts of money to spend.”
That is certainly possible.
Differences in income and wealth naturally affect how much people can afford to spend.
Looking at the numbers alone, it can seem as though consumers with different levels of financial means are making very different choices across the market.
In that sense, the gap between ₩50,000 and ₩500,000 gifts could partly reflect the broader economic divide in society.
But...
does that explain everything?
🛒 Even supermarkets are selling more expensive gifts
Practical, lower-priced gifts remain strong at large supermarkets.
But demand for expensive gifts is growing there too.
During the 2026 Chuseok pre-order season, some retailers saw a sharp increase in sales of gift sets priced above ₩200,000.
And department stores don’t sell only expensive gifts. Practical options around ₩100,000 also attract buyers.
So the market doesn’t divide as neatly as we might expect.
People trying to save buy cheap gifts.
People with more money buy expensive ones.
There seems to be something missing from that explanation.
🤔 We don’t spend cautiously on everything
Think about our own spending.
When living expenses rise, we don’t reduce every kind of spending equally.
Sometimes even a few thousand won feels like too much for something we don’t really care about.
But when something feels important—or when we really want it—we may spend much more than we expected.
We save in some places and spend in others.
That means the ₩50,000 and ₩500,000 gifts we see during Chuseok don’t necessarily have to represent two completely different kinds of people.
The same person may have areas where they want to save money and other areas where they are willing to spend more.
And with gifts, there is one more thing to consider.
🎁 A gift always has someone on the other side
When we buy something for ourselves, we can ask whether we need it and whether it is worth the price.
A gift is different.
Someone else is going to receive it.
And there is a relationship between that person and us.
For someone we simply want to thank without creating too much pressure, an expensive gift may not be necessary.
If the price feels reasonable and the gift is genuinely useful, a ₩50,000 gift may actually feel just right.
But there may be someone else for whom we want to choose something a little more special.
Maybe we simply have enough money to spend more.
Maybe we have been cutting back elsewhere but decide that this particular gift is worth spending on.
Or perhaps we want the gift itself to express something about how we feel toward that person.
Research on gift-giving suggests that givers and receivers do not always judge a “good gift” in exactly the same way.
Gift choices may involve not only usefulness, but also the giver’s desire to express something about the relationship.
That is why it is difficult to reduce the choice of a ₩500,000 gift to a single reason.
🧩 Are we really looking at just one kind of polarization?
At first, the picture seems simple.
₩50,000 means spending cautiously.
₩500,000 means spending generously.
And it is easy to assume that the difference comes from differences in people’s financial circumstances.
That may be part of the story.
But when we look a little closer, something else appears.
Within the same person, there may be things worth saving on and things worth spending more on.
And when that spending involves a gift, another question enters the picture:
“Who is this for?”
So the ₩50,000 and ₩500,000 gifts appearing in the Chuseok market may not be the result of a single force.
There may be economic differences between people.
There may also be a growing tendency within each person to concentrate spending on what feels important while cutting back elsewhere.
And when it comes to gifts, relationships enter the equation too.
That is why, during the same Chuseok season,
₩50,000 may feel like enough for one gift,
while ₩500,000 may feel worth spending on another.
So what are we actually seeing?
Is it a polarization of spending between different people?
Or are we also seeing a kind of polarization within ourselves—
between the things we choose to save on and the things we decide are worth spending more on?
Perhaps when it comes to Chuseok gifts...
both are happening at the same time.
댓글
댓글 쓰기