Chuseok Gift Sets in Korea 2026 — E-Mart and Lotte Mart Pre-Order Dates, Real Prices, and What the 'Up to 50% Off' Means for Visitors

If you're landing in Korea anytime between mid-August and late September, you'll walk into E-Mart or Lotte Mart and find whole aisles turned into a wall of gift boxes — apples in foam trays, canned tuna in gold cardboard, beef ribs under glass. Reels love unboxing these "Korean holiday gift sets," but they never explain what the season is, why the discounts have strings attached, or why the deadline that matters is not the one on the poster. So here is the Chuseok gift-set pre-order system explained for visitors — dates, real prices in won and dollars, and what actually applies to you if you're paying with a foreign card — as of August 15, 2026.

1. First, what you're looking at: Chuseok and the pre-order season

Chuseok is Korea's autumn harvest holiday, the closest thing to Thanksgiving. In 2026 it falls on Friday, September 25, with public holidays on September 24–26 (Thursday to Saturday) rolling into Sunday the 27th — a four-day weekend when trains sell out and much of Seoul empties toward hometowns. Because it's more than ten days earlier than last year (October 6), retailers pushed the whole gift-set season forward to early August.

The gift-set culture is real: Koreans give boxed fruit, beef, seafood, spam-and-tuna assortments, dried laver (gim) and health supplements to family, bosses and business partners. And most of it is bought in "pre-order" (사전예약) — Lotte Mart says pre-orders made up 55% of its holiday gift-set sales in 2023, 60% in 2024 and 70% in 2025. If you want to bring a distinctly Korean gift home or thank a Korean host, this is the cheapest window. Here's who's running it and until when:

Retailer	Pre-order window	Scale / discount
E-Mart (also Traders, E-Mart Everyday, SSG.COM)	Aug 6 – Sep 16 (42 days) Round 1 ends Sep 4	Up to 50% (with partner card / Shinsegae points)
Lotte Mart	Aug 6 – Sep 16 (6 weeks) Round 1 ends Sep 4	About 900 sets, up to 50% by item
Lotte Department Store	Aug 14 – Sep 3	About 190 items, up to 50%
Shinsegae Department Store	Aug 14 – Sep 6	About 370 items (25% more than last year)
Hyundai Department Store	Aug 14 – Sep 3 (21 days)	About 300 items, up to 25%

The department stores close more than ten days before the marts do, so if you want a department-store box (nicer packaging, hanwoo beef, premium fruit), decide before the end of August.

Photo: Shinsegae Group Newsroom, official press release image for E-Mart's Chuseok gift-set pre-order (Aug 6, 2026)

2. The "up to 50%" fine print — and why September 4 is the real deadline

This is the part no reel explains, and it's the part that decides whether the sticker price applies to you.

Both marts run three rounds, and the perks shrink each round

• E-Mart: Round 1 (Aug 6–Sep 4) — spend 300,000 won (~$220) or more with a partner card and get Shinsegae gift certificates, up to a cap of 6 million won (~$4,400) for bulk buyers. Round 2 (Sep 5–11) cap drops to 4 million won (~$2,900); Round 3 (Sep 12–16) to 2.5 million won (~$1,800).
• Lotte Mart: Round 1 (Aug 6–Sep 4) — spend a set minimum with a partner card and choose Lotte gift certificates up to 12 million won (~$8,800) or the same amount as an instant discount. Round 2 cap 8 million won (~$5,900); Round 3 cap 5 million won (~$3,700).

Those multi-million-won caps are for corporate-scale orders; an individual spending 300,000 won gets a tiered amount that the press releases don't spell out (check the in-store flyer). The takeaway is simple: whatever tier you're in, it's biggest before September 4.

What this means if you're paying with a foreign card

The headline "up to 50% off" at E-Mart is conditional on paying with a designated Korean partner card or accumulating Shinsegae points; Lotte Mart's best prices are L.Point member prices and partner-card deals. Korean media only say "partner card" without naming the issuers, so we can't tell you which ones — but as a visitor with a Visa or Mastercard from home, assume you'll see a higher price than the poster and treat any discount you do get as a bonus. Lotte Mart's instant-discount option is worth asking about at the register since it doesn't require you to hold or redeem a certificate later.

Photo: Lotte Mart's 2026 Chuseok pre-order promotional poster (provided by Lotte Mart, published by Newsis on Jul 29 and Youth Daily on Jul 31, 2026)

3. What things actually cost (won and approximate dollars)

These are the flagship sets the two chains put numbers on in their press materials, all at pre-order, partner-card or member prices. Dollar figures are rough conversions at about 1,360 won per dollar.

E-Mart

Set	Price	Note
Korean apples, 3.8 kg	59,500 won (~$44)	partner-card price
Premium apple mango, 2.2 kg	59,480 won (~$44)
US/Australian LA-style beef short ribs, 2 kg	99,800 won (~$73)
Gold Hanwoo (Korean beef) set, 1.35 kg	59,840 won (~$44)	partner-card price
Marcel Martin Crémant de Loire + Père Guillot Brut wine duo	28,600 won (~$21)	45% off

Lotte Mart

Set	Price	Note
Imported mixed fruit, 5–6 kinds	59,900 won (~$44)	11-kind box 69,900 won (~$51)
US beef LA-style short ribs, 2.4 kg	99,000 won (~$73)	L.Point member price
East Sea red snow crab, 2 kg	44,950 won (~$33)	50% off for L.Point members
Gim (seasoned laver) set	41,930 won (~$31)	30% off; budget gim set 9,900 won (~$7)
Nut assortments	19,900–29,900 won (~$15–22)

For a traveler, the useful reference points are: fruit boxes around 60,000 won (~$44), meat just under 100,000 won (~$73), seafood under 50,000 won (~$37), and gim or nuts for 10,000–30,000 won (~$7–22). E-Mart also says it stocked up to 40% more apples and pears than last Chuseok, so fruit is less likely to sell out early. Gim and nut sets are the ones that survive a flight — fresh fruit, beef and crab are for gifting inside Korea.

4. Department stores: shorter window, fancier boxes

All three big department-store chains opened pre-orders on August 14. Lotte runs to September 3 with about 190 items and discounts up to 50%; Shinsegae runs to September 6 with about 370 items (hanwoo 5–10% off, dried yellow croaker 20–30%, fruit 10–25%, health foods up to 65%); Hyundai runs to September 3 with about 300 items, up to 25% off and 20% more stock than last year. Department-store food halls (Shinsegae Gangnam, Lotte Myeongdong, Hyundai Seoul in Yeouido) are also the easiest places for a visitor to see the sets displayed and get English-speaking help.

5. Practical notes for visitors

1. Buying for someone in Korea? Get their address and pre-order. Lotte Mart ships nationwide free on orders of 30,000 won (~$22) or more; E-Mart offers free delivery on gift sets, and for bulk orders over 1 million won (~$735) it compensates delivery delays with up to 1 million won in E-Mart vouchers. Neither chain published delivery start dates, so ask at the counter whether you can pick a delivery date — international shipping is not part of these promotions.
2. Bringing something home? Stick to sealed dry goods. Gim, nut sets, canned tuna and the wine duo travel; fresh fruit, meat and seafood generally can't clear customs in most countries.
3. Expect the poster price to be the partner-card price. With a foreign card, budget for the higher, non-promotional price. If a friend in Korea has the partner card or an L.Point membership, buying together saves real money.
4. Lotte Mart's online store "Zetta" runs a separate card instant-discount event (up to 1.2 million won, ~$880) from August 13 to 28 — mostly relevant if you have a Korean address to ship to.
5. Plan around the holiday itself. September 24–27 is when trains and highways jam; if you're moving between cities that week, read our guide to the KTX–SRT merger on September 1 and how booking changes. And if what you really want to bring home is K-beauty rather than a fruit box, our Olive Young autumn sale dates post covers that.

6. What we couldn't confirm

• Homeplus (the third big mart chain): coupon-aggregator sites list a pre-order from August 6 to September 9 with up to 30% off, but we found no news coverage or official Homeplus notice — check in-store or in the app.
• Convenience-store gift sets (CU, GS25, 7-Eleven, emart24): no 2026 Chuseok pre-order coverage as of August 15.
• Galleria Department Store (Aug 21–Sep 6) and SSG.COM (up to 7% SSG Money back through Sep 15) were reported by only one outlet — treat as unconfirmed.
• Which cards count as "partner cards" and the exact certificate tiers for smaller purchases were not published.

Short version: marts run to September 16 but the best perks end September 4, department stores wrap up September 3–6, and every "up to 50%" you see assumes a Korean partner card or membership. Save this before your September trip, and if you end up buying a set — or discover which cards actually got you the discount — drop a comment so the next traveler knows what to expect. Corrections welcome too.

Information as of August 15, 2026, cross-checked from the Shinsegae Group Newsroom press release on E-Mart's Chuseok pre-order (Aug 6, 2026) and Korean news coverage of E-Mart (Herald Economy, Newspim, Youth Daily, Fintech Times, News2day), Lotte Mart (Newsis, SR Times, News2day) and the three department-store chains (Youth Daily, Cheonji Ilbo, Newspim). Won-to-dollar figures are approximate. Please verify partner-card lists, certificate tiers and delivery schedules with each retailer directly.