[Demographics of Rice Cookers] Delicious Sales of Small Rice Cookers

Households with 3 or fewer members account for 77.6%
Change in household size: 'Smaller families'
Popularity of large 8-10 person rice cookers ↓
Small rice cookers for 6 or fewer persons are the 'trend'
Overall rice cooker sales declined
Only 3-person or smaller models show 'solo growth'

Cuckoo Small Rice Cooker 'Egg Rice Cooker'. Photo by Cuckoo

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] The era of four-person households is fading, and society has become one where small families of three or fewer members, including one- and two-person households, are common. As marriage is delayed and aging progresses rapidly, the proportion of one- and two-person households is increasing. As birth rate statistics show, the proportion of families with one child has also risen. According to Statistics Korea, the distribution of household sizes in South Korea as of last year was 1-person (29.3%), 2-person (27.3%), 4 or more persons (22.4%), and 3-person (21.0%). This is the exact opposite of the situation about 20 years ago in 2000, when households with four or more members accounted for 44.5% of the total, followed by 3-person at 20.9%, 2-person at 19.1%, and 1-person at 15.5%. In 2000, the share of households with three or fewer members was just over half at 55.5%, but last year this proportion rose to 77.6%.

The change in household size is closely linked to changes in daily living habits related to eating and consumption. The most noticeable reflection of this change in household size is in rice cookers, the staple appliance for cooking rice. While rice cookers commonly used in extended family systems or four-person households were mainly designed for 8 to 10 people, now compact models for six or fewer people have become the trend.

Looking at the sales share of rice cookers from major domestic companies, Cuckoo's sales proportion of small rice cookers for six or fewer people increased steadily from 17% in 2010 to 30% in 2012, 42% in 2015, and 50% last year. A Cuckoo representative explained, "With the increase in nuclear families including one-person households, sales of small rice cookers such as 3-person and 6-person models have rapidly increased through online channels." According to Cuckoo, online sales of electric pressure rice cookers and electric warming rice cookers for six or fewer people in February rose by 47% compared to the same period last year. Similarly, Cuchen reported that the sales share of rice cookers for six or fewer people increased from 43% in 2012 to 50% in 2015 and 55% last year.

Cuchen Small Rice Cooker 'IR Mi-jak Clean Guard'. Photo by Cuchen

Retailers such as supermarkets and department stores, once filled with large home appliances, are now seeing the emergence of specialty stores for small appliances. An analysis of electric rice cooker sales at E-Mart from 2017 to 2019 showed that the year-on-year growth rate of sales for small rice cookers for three or fewer people was 9.0% in 2018 and 21% last year. Due to factors such as the development of dining-out culture and changes in eating habits, the population cooking rice at home has decreased, resulting in an overall decline in rice cooker sales during the same period. However, sales of rice cookers for three or fewer people alone showed "standalone growth," according to E-Mart.

Rice cooker manufacturers and sellers are launching marketing campaigns focused on small rice cookers tailored to small household types. Cuchen's 3.5-person A03 series (nicknamed "baby food rice cooker"), released in 2013, has been popular, recording cumulative sales of about 330,000 units from August 2013 to April last year. Riding on the popularity of the baby food rice cooker, Cuchen launched the Creamy (standard rice cooker, 6-person) model early last year and recently added a 3-person Creamy model.

An industry insider said, "In the past, newlywed couples, the main customer base of the industry, chose large 10-person rice cookers as wedding gifts to provide meals for the whole family. Now, dual-income couples are purchasing small rice cookers more frequently to quickly prepare a single meal or make baby food." The insider added, "When launching new product lines, the main products are now small rice cookers for six or fewer people, not 10-person models."

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