One Meal or Dessert Done Right... Convenience Stores Expand Premium Products

Emart24 Launches Premium Beef Lunchboxes
GS25, CU Introduce High-End Bread
Surge in High-Priced Wine Sales Among Home Drinkers

Emart24 announced on the 6th that it will introduce premium lunchboxes and hamburgers featuring beef, such as premium beef gyudon with poached eggs and black pepper wagyu burgers, to satisfy customers seeking premium products.

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] "The more expensive, the better it sells."

Convenience stores are expanding the premium market by selling premium meals instead of cheap ones, bread and desserts more luxurious than those from specialty bakeries, and high-end wines priced in the hundreds of thousands of won.

On the 6th, Emart24 announced that it will introduce premium lunch boxes and hamburgers such as 'Suranpumeun Sobulgogi Gyudong' and 'Black Pepper Wagyu Burger,' priced at least 1,000 won higher than existing convenience store products, along with the season-limited 'Ginseng Hanppuri Dosirak.'

Emart24 revealed that after analyzing food sales, general lunch boxes, sandwiches, hamburgers, and kimbap recorded an average growth rate of around 10%, but premium products priced about 1,000 to 2,000 won higher showed a growth rate of up to 167%.

An Emart24 official explained, "Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, outdoor activities have been restricted, increasing demand for convenience store lunch boxes and elevating consumer tastes. More people want to enjoy a proper meal without worrying about the price."

GS25, CU, and Seven Eleven are all launching premium bakeries. This is because demand for convenience store bread has steadily increased over the past few years, and since last year’s COVID-19 outbreak, more customers have been choosing bread instead of breakfast. In the case of Seven Eleven, bakery sales during morning hours and in residential areas increased by 16.4% and 29.5%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

The number of customers purchasing high-priced products at convenience stores is also on the rise. A representative item is wine, whose sales have surged due to the influence of the 'home drinking' trend. GS25 sold out its limited edition '5 Major Chateau Wine Set (5 bottles),' priced at around 6 million won per bottle, prepared as a Chuseok gift. The Grand Cru Premier Cru wine 'Chateau Laroute (1.5 million won)' sold at CU also sold out early. This is a high-end wine priced at 1.5 million won per bottle.

Emart24 has expanded its liquor-specialized stores to about 2,400 locations, about half of all its stores, and wine sales exceeded 1.5 million bottles, recording a sales growth rate of 2.9 times (190.1%) compared to the same period last year.

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