The Changed Chuseok Landscape Due to COVID-19... The No.1 Gift People Want to Receive as an 'e-Coupon'

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] The most desired gift this Chuseok was found to be an ‘e-coupon’.

In a ‘Chuseok Gift Trend Survey’ conducted by Lotte ON from the 3rd to the 5th with 3,000 customers, 50.1% of respondents chose ‘e-coupons’ as the gift they most want to receive this Chuseok. Following that, fresh foods such as Korean beef (Hanwoo) and fruits, as well as health supplements, were selected as preferred gifts.

It was common during holidays to purchase gift sets like Hanwoo or fruits and visit one’s hometown. However, the survey results showed that due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), one in two respondents said they would spend the holiday at home with family, and 62.5% of respondents said they planned to purchase gifts online.

This phenomenon arose as consumption patterns shifted from offline to online, and non-face-to-face interactions became a cultural norm due to COVID-19, making e-coupons a gift that satisfies both the giver and the receiver.

Accordingly, Lotte ON is strengthening e-coupon products such as mobile gift certificates and gifticons from Lotte affiliates including Lotte Department Store, Lotte Mart, Toys "R" Us, and LOHB’s, reflecting the survey results for this Chuseok gift season.

To coincide with the Chuseok season, Lotte ON has newly created a Chuseok gift set corner in the gifting feature to sell gift sets and health functional foods. In particular, from the 14th to the 25th of next month, customers using the gifting service will be entered into a draw where 1,000 people will receive 5,000 L.POINT points.

Meanwhile, in this holiday gift preference survey, high-priced gift sets showed a preference rate of 31.5% for meat gifts such as Hanwoo or ribs, ranking first, while mid- to low-priced gift sets saw processed food sets like tuna or ham record the highest preference at 40.1%.

Ji Kyung, head of Marketing Team 2 at Lotte e-Commerce, said, “We expect this Chuseok atmosphere to be quite different from before due to COVID-19 and other factors,” adding, “We will focus all efforts on composing gift sets that fit the untact theme according to the Chuseok gift preference survey.”

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