2023 Consumer Trend Insights

Rando Kim(김난도)
Rando Kim is a professor in the Dept. of Consumer Science(DCS), Seoul National University(SNU) and the head of Consumer Trend Center(CTC), SNU. As a specialist in consumer behavior and market trend analysis, he has written more than 20 books including Trend Korea series, Trend China, What Consumers Want, and Luxury Korea. He has also written essay books, Amor Fati, Future and My Job, and Youth, It’s Painful which have sold three million copies in 14 countries. He has conducted research projects about consumer needs finding, new product planning, and market trend probing for Korea’s major companies like Samsung, LG, SK, CJ, Hyundai Motors, Amore Pacific, Lotte, Fursys, Nongshim, and Coway.

Miyoung Jeon(전미영)
Miyoung Jeon currently works as a research fellow in the CTC, SNU. She worked as a research analyst at the Samsung Economic Research Institute. She obtained her BA, MA, and PhD degrees in Consumer Science, SNU. She wrote her Ph.D. dissertation and subsequent articles about purchasing behavior and consumer happiness. She received ‘The Best Publication Award’ from the Korean Society of Consumer Studies in 2008. She is interested in tracking consumer trends in Korea and China as well as big data analysis for new product development and industrial applications.

Jihye Choi(최지혜)
Jihye Choi, Ph.D. in Consumer Science from DCS, SNU, works as a research fellow at CTC. She has participated in many consulting projects with Korea’s leading companies such as Samsung and LG, and gives public lectures on consumer trends. She currently teaches consumer behavior and qualitative research methodology at SNU. She contributes many articles and columns to major Korean newspapers and media.

Hyang Eun Lee(이향은)
Hyang Eun Lee is a Vice President of LG Electronics, H&A Customer eXperience(CX) Division, and an associate Professor in the Dept. of Service Design Engineering at Sungshin Women’s University. While being a corporate professional and a professor, she co-authored numerous trend insight books and is a renowned columnist for JoongAng Newspaper. She received a PhD in Design from the Graduate School of Arts, SNU, and a master’s degree in Design Management from Central Saint Martins in London, England.

June Young Lee(이준영)
June Young Lee currently works as an associate professor in SangMyung University. He received a doctorate degree in Consumer Science, SNU. He received ‘The Best Paper Award’ in The Journal of Consumer Studies. He worked as a senior researcher in Life Soft Research lab at LG Electronics. He is a laboratory chief of Consumer Research Center in SangMyung University.

Soojin Lee(이수진)
Soojin Lee earned a doctorate degrees in Consumer Science from SNU and currently works as a research fellow at CTC. Prior to joining the center, she was a stock market reporter on Maeil Economic TV. As a contributing researcher, she is conducting a number of consulting projects with Korea’s major companies such as Samsung, LG, etc., and received ‘The Best Publication Award’ from the Korean Academic Society of Financial Planning in 2018. Also, as a lecturer she teaches consumer culture and consumer psychology at SNU.

Jung Yun Kwon(권정윤)
Jung Yoon Kwon currently works as a research fellow in the CTC, SNU. She obtained her BA, MA, and PhD degrees in Consumer Science, SNU. She academically explored the intergenerational transmission of consumption styles in her PhD dissertation. Her interests include rapidly changing modern society, its impact on consumer cultures, and various research methodologies to capture them.

Dahye Han(한다혜)
Dahye Han is a PhD candidate in Consumer Science, SNU and is currently a senior researcher at CTC. She received a BA in Psychology, SNU and an MA degree in Consumer Science, SNU. With her masters thesis, “A Study on Consumer Emotion Changes in Online Clothing Purchasing Process,” her research interests focus on consumer behavior, trend analysis, and consumption psychology.

Hyewon Lee(이혜원)
Hyewon Lee, a PhD candidate in Consumer Science, SNU and is currently a senior researcher at CTC. She worked at Dasan Books, Leadersbook, and Kakao Page Corp. for over 15 years. She has an MA degree with her thesis: “Comparative Analysis of Age Effect, Period Effect and Cohort Effect - Focusing on Consumer Perception Toward CSR.” She is currently interested in generation theory and changes in consumer behavior due to technological advances.

Yelin Chu(추예린)
Yelin Chu received an MA degree in Consumer Science, SNU. Currently, she is attending a PhD program and serves as a senior researcher at CTC. Her master’s thesis was about “A Study of Consumer Experience on the Online Education Service with Conditional Tuition Refund.” She is interested in analyzing big data to distill insights from unstructured data, and in deriving further meaning from participant interviews through qualitative research.

Dahyen Jeon(전다현)
Dahyen Jeon is currently working on her PhD and is a senior researcher at CTC. She received a BA degree in Fashion Industry at Ewha Women’s University and an MA degree in Consumer Science at SNU. She was awarded first place in the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles(KSCT) contest in 2019. Her area of interest is consumer behavior in digital retail environment. Her current research focuses on online visual cues and haptic imagery.