eBay Korea's 'Big Smile Day' Sells 39 Items Per Second... Sales Volume and Transaction Amount Increase

Deadline at midnight on the 12th... 15% Increase in Sales Compared to Last Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Korea's largest online shopping festival, 'Big Smile Day,' has once again broken its record this year.

eBay Korea announced on the 13th that Big Smile Day, held simultaneously on Gmarket, Auction, and G9, ended at midnight on the 12th with a cumulative sales volume of 40.32 million items. From November 1 to 12, the daily average sales were 3.36 million items, averaging 39 items sold per second. This represents a 15% increase compared to November last year, marking the highest sales volume ever.

The transaction amount also increased. Major brand companies participating in this Big Smile Day, such as Samsung Electronics, Ottogi, LG Electronics, Apple, and CJ CheilJedang, saw their transaction amounts increase more than sevenfold (648%) compared to usual. This was thanks to discount coupons offering up to 400,000 KRW off, applied to a total of about 13 million products.

The average sales amount of the top five ranked items also rose to 3.1 billion KRW, about a 35% increase compared to last year's top five average sales amount of 2.3 billion KRW. The top five products by cumulative transaction amount were ▲Samsung Bespoke Refrigerator (3.87 billion KRW) ▲Samsung Galaxy S20 (3.61 billion KRW) ▲LG Tromm WashTower (3.11 billion KRW) ▲Dyson Cordless Vacuum Cleaner (2.49 billion KRW) ▲Missha Black Friday all items 1+1 (2.24 billion KRW).

Essential goods and food items, which saw bulk purchases due to COVID-19, also recorded high sales. ‘Clean Nation Pure Brown 3-ply Toilet Paper 2-pack’ achieved sales of 1.13 billion KRW, and ‘Ottogi Instant Rice’ recorded 730 million KRW in sales. Winter outerwear such as ‘The North Face Winter Outerwear’ sold 2.3 billion KRW worth, while ‘Giordano Lightweight Padding & Homewear’ and ‘Guess Winter Outerwear’ sold 1.88 billion KRW and 1.87 billion KRW worth, respectively.

The offline-linked event ‘Smile Club Lounge,’ held at about 30,000 stores nationwide, also received a positive response. The time deal event, held in limited quantities at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. over four days from November 5 to 8, sold out all items. On the 5th, the ‘Paris Baguette Gift Certificate’ sold at a 50% discount was completely sold out within 20 minutes of the start of sales, setting a record for the shortest sell-out time with 10,000 units prepared. On the 6th, the ‘Egg Drop Sandwich,’ sold at a 31% discount, also sold out 3,000 units within 20 minutes of sales opening. A total of about 126,000 people applied for the ‘Flex Deal,’ which offered prizes such as a private movie theater rental ticket for one person, convenience store gift certificates worth 100,000 KRW, and a one-month coffee subscription through a lottery.

Kim Tae-soo, Head of Sales Division at eBay Korea, said, “Considering the spread of untact consumption trends due to COVID-19, we expanded mega sponsorships with big brands and significantly enhanced benefits such as discounts up to 400,000 KRW, which attracted more consumer interest than ever before. In particular, the ‘Hero Items,’ selected as products preferred by customers and offered daily at special prices, drove sales until the end of the event, contributing to the successful conclusion of this year’s Big Smile Day.”

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