Korea is emerging as one of the most "luxury friendly" markets in the world, according to the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
In a recent survey by a global consultancy McKinsey on shoppers from various countries who have purchased luxury products, some 46 percent of Korean respondents said their consumption of such goods has increased over the past 12 months.
Only Korea and China, where luxury consumption grew by 44 percent, saw increases of over 40 percent. In Japan the figure was 6 percent and in the U.S. and Europe 3 percent.
While 45 percent of Japanese respondents said that showing off luxury goods was in bad taste, only 22 percent of Koreans agreed. It was 38 percent for Chinese and 27 percent for Americans and Europeans.
Only about 5 percent of Koreans said they felt guilty after buying expensive luxury items, compared to 15 percent for Europeans, 14 percent for Chinese, and 10 percent for Americans and Japanese.
Korea's luxury friendly attitude is partly due to its "homogeneous culture," where people seek to distinguish themselves with high-end goods and others feel pressured to catch up with them, McKinsey said. Currently the country takes up just 4 percent of the world's luxury market, but experts predict that the figure will only expand in the future.
