Processed Foods, Purchased in Larger Quantities 'Online' at Once

Consumers Purchasing Processed Foods Online 'Jump Up'
'Convenience Foods' Rank 3rd in Online Processed Food Sales

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Consumers looking for processed foods have been purchasing larger quantities at once rather than buying small amounts frequently. Additionally, the number of consumers purchasing online has significantly increased compared to last year.

According to the "2019 Processed Food Consumer Attitude Survey Preliminary Results" conducted by the Korea Rural Economic Institute on 2,016 households from July to August, the most common purchase frequency for processed foods was once a week at 50.1%.

This is about a 7% increase compared to last year's survey, where 43.7% responded that they purchased processed foods once a week. On the other hand, those who purchased 2 to 3 times a week decreased from 28.7% last year to 24.4% this year. This suggests that consumers tend to buy larger quantities at once through large supermarkets or online rather than buying small amounts frequently at local small and medium-sized stores.

In fact, the place where processed foods are mainly purchased was large discount stores, which accounted for the highest response at 40.5%, up 4.2% from last year. Consumers visiting local small and medium-sized supermarkets to buy processed foods decreased from 28.1% last year to 25.6%. Traditional markets also declined from 11.9% last year to 7.9%.

On the other hand, the number of people purchasing processed foods online has greatly increased. Last year, 58.4% responded that they did not purchase processed foods online at all, but this year it decreased by 15.3 percentage points to 43.2%. Also, consumers purchasing processed foods online once a week increased significantly from 5.8% last year to 14.7% this year, and those purchasing once every two weeks rose sharply from 17.6% last year to 27% this year.

The growth of online as a purchase channel for processed foods appears to be due to an increase in consumers seeking convenience foods (HMR) because of factors such as the rise in single-person households. This year, convenience foods accounted for 7.8% of total distribution channel expenditures on processed foods, ranking fifth overall. However, the share of convenience foods in online purchases was 10.1%, ranking third.

Meanwhile, the survey found that the younger the household head, the higher the expenditure on convenience foods, and that single-person households or those with lower income levels had a higher proportion of convenience foods in their grocery spending. Younger age groups mainly purchased rice dishes, noodles, and lunch boxes as convenience foods, while the proportion of side dishes clearly increased with age.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.