Guides for shop owners
Does a shop in Busan need a website for foreign customers?
Busan draws plenty of visitors from Japan, Taiwan, China and English-speaking countries. Before they come to a shop, they look up four things on their phone: the menu, the prices, the opening hours and how to get there. When all four sit on one screen in the customer’s own language, fewer people turn back at the door.
The four must-haves
- Menu and prices — with a one-line description next to each photo (what’s in it)
- Opening hours and closing days — so people can see at a glance whether you’re open today
- Directions — a map link, plus the nearest station and exit in their official English names (e.g. Seomyeon Station, Exit 7). For travelers with big luggage, say whether there’s an elevator
- How to book or ask a question — a message option or booking link for customers who can’t easily phone
How to choose your languages
- Start with the countries your customers actually come from — don’t guess; ask them for a week
- For most shops, Korean + English is enough. Add Japanese if you get many Japanese customers
- Chinese differs between the mainland (Simplified) and Taiwan/Hong Kong (Traditional). If you get many Taiwanese customers, check whether you need Traditional
- Paste in raw machine translation and your menu names come out wrong. It’s safer to write each name the way it sounds and add a one-line description
Why Naver Map (Korea’s go-to map app) and Instagram aren’t enough
- Foreign customers use Google Maps rather than Naver Map — so it helps to have a website address to put on your Google Maps listing
- On Instagram it’s hard to see the menu and prices at a glance, and people scroll past posts written in Korean
This guide was written by Gyeol, a website service for small shops. Use it as it is, whether or not you use Gyeol.
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