Thanks to 'Home Cook Tribe and Single-Person Households'... Online Sales and Small Appliances Take Off

Cuckoo Electronics, Q4 Online Sales Up 110% YoY
Lock&Lock Diversifies Business with Small Appliances, Sales Surge 405%
Happycall Shifts from Home Shopping to E-commerce

Portable mini air purifier launched by Lock&Lock in March 2019.
[Photo by Lock&Lock]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Junhyung] Due to the impact of COVID-19, the activation of non-face-to-face interactions, and the increase in single-person households, online sales and small home appliance sales of kitchen appliance companies surged last year. The industry plans to focus on online sales and small appliance lineups this year as well, reflecting recently emerging shopping keywords such as 'home cooking' and live commerce.

According to Lock&Lock on the 30th, the proportion of online sales in total sales increased from 11% in 2013 to 27% last year. This was thanks to the increase in consumers choosing non-face-to-face shopping as COVID-19 spread. According to Statistics Korea, the online shopping transaction amount last year (cumulative as of November) was 145.1211 trillion KRW, an 18.4% increase compared to the same period the previous year. Among these, the transaction amount in the 'home appliances, electronics, and telecommunications devices' sector was about 13.3225 trillion KRW, rising by 27.9%.

As the scale of online shopping expands, other kitchen appliance companies are also enjoying booming sales. Cuckoo Electronics, which launched air fryers and humidifiers in addition to rice cookers, announced that its online sales in the fourth quarter of last year increased by 110% compared to the same period the previous year.

Happycall, which entered the home appliance market by sequentially releasing blenders and induction cookers along with its existing main products such as frying pans and kitchenware, saw its online sales grow from only 15% of total sales in 2018 to about 30% last year.

Happycall's small appliance lineup 'Odd Line'
[Photo by Happycall]

The increase in small appliance sales was also remarkable. Lock&Lock, which started launching small appliances domestically in March 2019, reported that its small appliance sales surged by 405% compared to the previous year. The steady increase in single-person households is a major factor driving sales.

According to the Statistics Korea 'Population and Housing Census,' the number of single-person households increased by more than 1 million in five years, from 5.2 million in 2015 to 6.15 million in 2019. A Lock&Lock official said, “Among our main businesses such as airtight containers and tumblers, the sales growth rate of small appliances was the highest,” adding, “We plan to diversify this product group further this year.”

Riding this trend, kitchen appliance companies are expected to focus more on online sales channels and continuously expand their small appliance lineups. The spread of the 'home cooking' culture along with non-face-to-face interactions due to COVID-19, and the rapid rise of live commerce as the latest online shopping trend, also influenced this.

A Happycall official said, “In 2018, home shopping sales accounted for more than half of total sales,” adding, “We are focusing our capabilities on reducing dependence on home shopping and strengthening e-commerce.”

Happycall plans to release a small rice cooker targeting single-person households in the first half of this year and will steadily launch new products in its small appliance lineup called the ‘Odd Line.’ Cuckoo Electronics also stated, “We have plans to launch new small appliance products this year.”

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