Increase in Men and Middle-Aged Customers Looking for Salads at Convenience Stores

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] As interest in healthy food grows, demand for salads as a healthy and light meal at convenience stores is increasing.

Seven Eleven announced on the 18th that sales in the salad category increased by 27.2% year-on-year from January to October this year. The increase in consumption among men and middle-aged groups, who were previously considered a minority in the salad market, is analyzed as the main factor for this growth.

According to Seven Eleven, the sales growth rates of salads among men and middle-aged groups this year were 34.5% and 48.4%, respectively, significantly exceeding the overall growth rate. The sales proportion also increased significantly. The sales proportion of salads among those aged 50 and above rose from 19.4% last year to 22.3% this year. On the other hand, the sales proportion among people in their 20s slightly decreased from 30.2% to 25.3%.

By gender, the sales proportion of men sharply increased from 29.8% in 2018 and 34.6% last year to 41.3% this year. The sales proportion of salads by men and women this year (~October) is 40:60, with women still dominant, but the gap is narrowing.

Previously, salads were strongly perceived as food only eaten by young women for dieting purposes, but recently, purchases have been evenly made across all age groups as a daily meal. Due to the rapid decrease in outdoor activities and prolonged stay-at-home life caused by COVID-19, demand has increased to resolve a meal with healthy and light salads rather than high-calorie foods.

In line with this trend, Seven Eleven has newly launched salad products containing soft-boiled eggs to strengthen its lineup. An analysis of related purchase trends for salad items at Seven Eleven this year showed that the most frequently purchased product together with salads was ‘Gamdongran,’ the number one soft-boiled egg. It is analyzed that the pattern of purchasing soft-boiled eggs together was to satisfy a slightly insufficient feeling of fullness and protein intake with salads alone.

Reflecting the high proportion of Gamdongran in salad-related purchases, Seven Eleven planned this product. The ‘Gamdongran & Chicken Breast Big Salad (4,500 KRW, 270 kcal)’ individually packages Gamdongran for convenience, and is completed with sous-vide chicken breast, corn, cherry tomatoes, various vegetables, and ranch sauce. The ‘Gamdongran & Ricotta Cheese Big Salad’ is also scheduled to be released early next month.

Kim Hayoung, MD of the Food Team at Seven Eleven, said, “The salad market is rapidly growing based on the health trend, gradually establishing itself as a healthy food for all age groups,” and added, “We will continue to introduce salad products with improved cost-effectiveness and quality to expand salad options at convenience stores.”

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