COVID-19 and Rainy Season Drive 5x Increase in CU Mobile Wine Reservations

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Recently, due to the resurgence of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) and the prolonged rainy season, the number of 'home drinking' consumers has increased, leading to a significant rise in convenience store wine reservation orders.

CU analyzed the usage status of its mobile wine reservation service ‘CU Wine Shop’ on the 18th and found that the number of orders this month (1st to 16th) surged 5.2 times in less than three months since its launch.

Launched in June, CU Wine Shop is a service where customers can pre-order desired products through the CU membership application ‘Pocket CU’ and pick them up at a designated date and store.

CU's wine sales growth rate compared to the previous year was 48.6% from January to May, but after the introduction of CU Wine Shop, it showed greater growth with 64.1% in June and 75.5% in July. Recently, influenced by COVID-19 and the rainy season, the number of service uses increased sharply, recording 121.8% in August.

Looking at the sales composition by price range of CU Wine Shop, unlike general offline stores, premium wines are notably popular. Wines priced over 150,000 KRW account for about 30% of total sales on CU Wine Shop, with a growth rate of 170% compared to the previous month in August.

This is a remarkably high figure compared to offline stores where mid-priced wines under 30,000 KRW make up most of the sales. Since CU Wine Shop operates through mobile reservations, reflecting customers' clear preferences and purpose-driven purchases, it is analyzed that high-priced wines have also been widely chosen.

CU analyzed the purchasing characteristics of mobile wine reservation customers showing explosive demand and expanded the lineup this month with about 70 new products, mainly premium wines.

High-priced premium wines such as Almaviva (299,900 KRW), Sassicaia (500,000 KRW), Ch?teau Aubrion (1,000,000 KRW), Ch?teau Lafite Rothschild (1,400,000 KRW), and Roman?e-Saint-Vivant (4,000,000 KRW), which were not available in existing offline stores, are sold in limited quantities.

Targeting summer, Atlas Vidal Ice Wine (29,900 KRW) is also introduced as a unique product. CU is holding an event until the end of August offering monthly promotional wines, summer special wines, and sommelier MD recommended wines at discounts of up to 52% off the regular price.

Besides wine, CU is selling 30 limited units of Ma Wang Imperial Stout premium craft beer from Hand & Malt, which has been very popular since its launch in 2018, selling out all stock.

Sehye Won, MD of the Beverage Food Team at BGF Retail, said, “CU Wine Shop is expanding the range of choices with diverse varieties, vintages, and price ranges considering various customer preferences,” adding, “Since there are many purchase requests from customers in provincial areas, we plan to gradually expand the service area.”

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