Online-Only 'Olban Small-Pack Seasoned Meat' Sales Jump 6x in 3 Years... Small-Pack Food Trend Dominates

Shinsegae Food 'Olban Small-Pack Seasoned Meat' 4 Types

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Saeng-hye] As single-person households rapidly increase and demand for cooking convenience rises, foods packaged in single-serving portions are gaining popularity. In particular, the growth of single-serving portion home meal replacements (HMR) that can be easily ordered and consumed through online malls is becoming evident.

Shinsegae Food announced on the 3rd that sales of single-serving portion marinated meat convenience foods, released exclusively for online, are surging. The ‘Olban Sobulgogi’ single-serving marinated meat, launched in 2016, sold 450,000 units within a year through home shopping and online malls alone. In 2017, they added two more products, ‘Olban Usamgyeop’ and ‘Olban Sut-hyang Bulgogi,’ recording sales of 1.5 million units, three times more than the previous year. Last year, they expanded the variety of single-serving marinated meats to 16 popular domestic consumer menus, including Chuncheon-style Dakgalbi, Duck Bulgogi, Aged Herb Samgyeopsal, and Gochujang Pork Bulgogi, achieving sales of 3 million units through online malls such as SSG.com, Coupang, and Market Kurly. This is a sixfold increase compared to 2016 when single-serving marinated meats were first introduced.

Shinsegae Food analyzed that the popularity of these single-serving marinated meats is due to the combination of three factors: restaurant-level taste, easy cooking methods, and convenient storage, which have received great responses from single-person households, solo diners, and dual-income couples. Additionally, unlike the past when multi-person households purchased marinated meat in bulk at large supermarkets, the trend of single-person households buying small quantities of food through online malls or delivery applications has become a major cause.

Along with this, Shinsegae Food is continuously launching single-serving portion convenience foods for side dishes in offline channels. In line with large supermarkets, convenience stores, and other offline distribution channels offering alcoholic beverages that cannot be purchased online as products to attract customers, they are focusing on introducing single-serving side dish convenience foods that can be paired with alcoholic drinks.

In fact, the single-serving side dish HMR ‘Olban Hanjan Halle Dongpayuk,’ released in November last year through a partnership between Shinsegae Food and GS Retail, became known among solo drinkers centered on single-person households for allowing them to easily enjoy premium dish-type side dishes using a microwave. It became one of the top 7 popular products among GS25’s 60 frozen home meal replacements (HMR). Olban Hanjan Halle Dongpayuk is a product that packages 200g portions of Dongpayuk, an authentic Chinese dish, so solo drinkers can easily enjoy it. Following this, last month Shinsegae Food launched two single-serving steamed dishes, Olban ‘Andong-style Soy Sauce Steamed Chicken’ and ‘Spicy Pork Rib Stew,’ at Ministop, intensifying their targeting of solo diners and solo drinkers.

A Shinsegae Food official said, “We plan to continuously expand the lineup of single-serving products targeting the rational trend of single-person households who purchase only the necessary amount.” He added, “Especially as the culture of shopping through online malls and convenience stores spreads mainly among single-person households, we will develop and introduce small-quantity products tailored to the characteristics of each channel.”

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