S.Korea's E-Mart24 provides VAT refund service for foreign visitors

E-Mart24 Inc., the convenience store chain unit of Shinsegae Inc. Group, announced on Tuesday that it will resume the value-added tax (VAT) refund service for foreign tourists for the first time in three years since the COVID-19 outbreak.

E-Mart24 will launch both the instant VAT refund service, which deducts the VAT refund amount from the payment immediately, and the post-VAT refund service, which allows tourists to receive the VAT refund at the point of departure.

With the resumption of the VAT refund service, E-Mart24 expects to improve the shopping convenience for foreign tourists.

E-Mart24 analyzed last year's sales of prepaid SIM cards, which are popular among foreign tourists, and found that they increased by 394% compared to the previous year. In the second half of the year, the sales increased by a whopping 697%, compared to a growth of 91% in the first half.

In addition, E-Mart24 accepts various payment methods, including Alipay, Alipay Plus, WeChat Pay, UnionPay and Apple Pay, and has also introduced simplified payment services for credit cards such as Visa, Master, Amex and JCB.

Write to Jong-Kwan Park at pjk@hankyung.com