Chuseok 2026: Why Korea Buys Its Holiday Gifts in August

September 02, 2026

For Chuseok 2026, Korean retailers opened gift-set pre-orders in August, weeks before the September 25 holiday. Emart reported that 72.6% of its 2025 gift-set sales took place during pre-orders, up from 61.6% in 2024. This dated guide explains the retail calendar and the food-gift exception under Korea’s anti-graft rules; the listed 2026 offers have ended.

A plate of songpyeon, the half-moon rice cakes eaten at Chuseok — Photo: 토라이 리퍼블릭 / Korea Tourism Organization (KOGL Type 1)

Pre-orders now carry most of Korea's holiday gift-set season. Emart's pre-order share reached 72.6% in 2025, up from 61.6% in 2024; Lotte Mart's rose from 55% in 2023 to 70% in 2025. Figures as reported by Korean trade press, checked September 3, 2026.

Retailer	2026 pre-order window	What's in the catalog	Change vs last Chuseok
Shinsegae Dept. Store	through Sept 6	~370 items	+25% more items
Hyundai Dept. Store	through Sept 3	~300 items	~20% more stock secured
Lotte Dept. Store	through Sept 3	~190 items	up to 2x stock on top sellers
Emart	Aug 6 – Sept 16	fruit, beef, seafood sets	apple and pear sets up to +40% stock
Lotte Mart	Aug 6 – Sept 16	~900 sets	fruit mixes concentrated at ₩40,000–60,000

*Grouped by retail channel — this is not a ranking, and the item counts measure catalog breadth, not sales. Figures from Korean trade press reports dated August 4–23, 2026, checked September 3, 2026.*

Chuseok Falls on September 25, and the Break Is Four Days

Chuseok, Korea's autumn harvest holiday, lands on September 25 this year — more than ten days earlier than 2025's October 6. The official break runs September 24 to 26, with the Sunday of the 27th attached: four days, against the ten-day stretch Korea got last year.

A shorter, earlier holiday compresses everything around it. Households have less time to travel, cook and visit, and retailers have a narrower window to move what is, for a few weeks each year, the largest seasonal category on their floors. So the selling season moved earlier instead. Emart and Lotte Mart both opened gift-set pre-orders on August 6 and run them through September 16 — a 42-day window that closes nine days before the holiday itself.

Most Gift Sets Are Now Sold Before the Holiday

The more interesting number is how much of the season has already migrated into that pre-order window. At Emart, pre-orders accounted for 61.6% of gift-set sales in 2024 and 72.6% in 2025. Lotte Mart reports the same curve one step behind: 55% in 2023, 60% in 2024, 70% in 2025. For both chains, the holiday-week rush is no longer where most of the business happens.

The stated driver is price. Korean retailers describe shoppers using the pre-order discount — up to 50% off at Lotte Department Store and in Emart's first pre-order phase — as a way to buy the same set for less under sustained food inflation. Department stores report that behavior showing up as demand, not just browsing: Lotte Department Store said its Chuseok pre-order sales ran 95% above the same period last year, after a 120% jump at Lunar New Year.

The ₩300,000 Rule That Shapes What Goes in the Box

The anti-graft rules affect gifts to covered recipients in specified circumstances. They are not a universal spending cap on private Chuseok gifts.

Korea's Improper Solicitation and Graft Act — universally called the Kim Young-ran Act after the jurist who proposed it — caps what public officials, teachers and journalists may accept. Gifts are limited to ₩50,000 (about $36) in general. Agricultural, livestock and fisheries products and their processed goods get a higher ceiling of ₩150,000, and during designated holiday periods that doubles to ₩300,000 (about $218). For Chuseok 2026 the raised ceiling applies from September 1 through September 30.

Category	Standard limit	Holiday period limit
General gifts	₩50,000	₩50,000
Agricultural, livestock and fisheries goods	₩150,000	₩300,000 (Sept 1–30, 2026)
Meals	₩50,000	₩50,000

*Limits per Korea's Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, as reported in Korean press on August 31, 2026.*

The higher holiday exception helps explain food sets priced near ₩300,000. It does not mean every gift below the amount is permitted: the recipient’s role, relationship to the giver and the purpose of the gift still matter.

What's Actually Changing Inside the Boxes

The composition is shifting faster than the price bands. CJ CheilJedang, whose Spam sets are the most recognizable Korean holiday gift there is, put out about 260 Chuseok sets this year — roughly 50 more than it offered at Lunar New Year — and the growth is not in canned ham. It is in tuna and olive-oil combinations, fresh fruit and meat, premium lines and character-IP collaborations, which the company attributes to gift preferences spreading out from processed food into health-and-wellness categories.

Department stores are pushing the same direction with different tactics. Hyundai is portioning Korean beef into 200g units for smaller households; Shinsegae is selling producer-identified farm goods alongside non-food items; Lotte has added prepared dishes and a carving service. Both Hyundai and Lotte have put AI assistants in front of the catalog to recommend by budget and recipient. The through-line is that "expensive" is no longer the organizing idea of a Korean holiday gift — specificity is.

For the food itself, our regional songpyeon guide explains the differences in dough, filling and shape behind a familiar Chuseok gift.

Sources

Seoul Trendly | Korean Beauty, Food & Culture Guides