South Korean shoppers are shifting toward value-oriented Chuseok (Korean harvest festival) gifts as prolonged inflation raises household costs. Preorder sales at Lotte, Shinsegae and Hyundai Department Store rose 55% from a year earlier, with pork sets, gifts priced around 100,000 won and small-portion products gaining ground against higher-priced Korean beef and seafood. Hypermarkets recorded a similar pattern, while the cost of preparing a six-person Chuseok ancestral-rite table increased 5.1%, according to a Seoul Agro-Fisheries & Food Corporation survey. Retailers expect demand for lower-price gifts to remain strong through the main sales period.