Shopping in Korea & Gmarket Step-by-step!

When a guy shops, it is usually very fast. We rarely window shop but sometimes we do it during the middle of the month when we have no money left. Guys live like a king the week he receives his paycheck and live like a pauper at the end of the month. In Korea, cloths are expensive for men. Lets not even talk about branded stuffs here.

In Daegu, in my opinion, the best place to shop is ZARA. For any westerners to Korea, the main problem is finding clothing that fits their sizes. Korean clothing brands don't cater for that kind of market. I am not fond of Korean brands because they jacked up the price and I couldn't afford anything else after buying one. Bean Pole Korea is a good example. ZARA is very expensive in Korea in comparison to Spain but what choices do you have when living in Daegu? Uniqlo? Giordano?

Koreans love to shop, this is almost like their second nature. Everytime during sales, you can see old ladies crowding the Lotte Departmental Store to buy tiny weeny 9,000 Won handkerchiefs, the 30,000 Won (around 27 USD. Wow!) patterned umbrella or the young ladies crowding H&M in Myeongdong, Seoul to get a discounted skirt while some guys at home crazily searching online for nice boots to wear (To make them "taller").

In Daegu, usually having a clear budget on what to buy is very important - you will overspend. The best clothing investments I ever made were my suit (It was around 250 USD, I wear it quite often too) and my 100 dollars pea coat (I had a brown one, but I gave it away. I have a black one now and it still looks good!).

I believe having a good suit is important, it can be worn on weddings, special occasions, meetings, etc. Then comes the neckties. I like ties very much. Windsor, Pratt - The knots I learned when I was in school. Windsor knot was taught by my Form 1 school teacher while my dad tied Pratt for me.

In Korea, I am grateful to be able to choose what I want to wear without any interference from my great mum when I am back in Malaysia. "Oh My God, did you cut your jeans?" "No I did not, some crazy cats scratched it!" (In my case, the jeans were already worn out when I bought it). Cool right?

**

Shopping through G-market is easy as there is an English website too. Nevertheless, if one is interested in buying or looking at stuffs through the Korean webpage. This is the way.

장갑이 마음 안 들어 ㅠㅠ Gloves bought in G-Market.. Hmmn..

In Korea, you need to register and login as the member of G-Market. Check out for the steps below - it's very easy because it's in English! After you had registered, login again and you are done. There's a "Wheel of Fortune" thingy where you can try your luck in it once a day by clicking onto the "button". In the 나의 쇼핑정보 (My Shopping Info) part, you can click on G 통장 (G Bank book) to see your balance.

This is the G-Market Korean Page



If you are a foreigner. Here.



Fill in the form.





Login here.

After you had make your purchases (I did it through bank money transfer to my G-Market bank account) and then you wait. In Korea, postal services are very very efficient. I got my Korean-English dictionary in less than 2 days. However, the last time I bought something over the net. It was 4 days! So read carefully on the buyer's after sales comment first before making any moves (Mine has lots of complains on late deliveries but I did not check them. Hmmn~).

"Wheel of fortune"



Your bank account.



Parcel on the way.



After you received your parcel, click on 수취확인



Timeline of your parcel's location. Cool!

From the time you banked in the money, you can track your purchases, whether the goods are still under packing, at the post office or already on the way to your house. Finally the delivery man will call you to say your parcel had arrived and get it from him. Very efficient postal service in Korea right? You bet.