A Company Selling Adult Diapers Alone Now Achieves Annual Sales of 7 Billion Won

[Vitamin SME] An Gi-won, CEO of Jinsan Medical, Imported the First Adult Diapers in 1996
Recently Selling Over 350 Medical and Health Products Including Walkers and Blood Pressure Monitors

Ahn Gi-won, CEO of Jinsan Medical, explaining the functions of the walking assistive device, which sells over 10,000 units annually.
[Photo by Kim Jong-hwa]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] Jinsan Medical, located in Hongje-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, is a company that imports and distributes home medical supplies, hospital equipment, elderly medical devices, and health products. Occasionally, global companies distribute their developed products domestically through Jinsan Medical.

CEO An Gi-won of Jinsan Medical started his business in 1996. As a young man majoring in Chinese at university and preparing for employment, he was asked by an acquaintance who imported and distributed medical supplies to interpret during a visit to Taiwan, which sparked his interest in business. After several overseas market visits as an interpreter, he gained confidence that he could succeed on his own. In August of that year, he established the company and began importing and selling adult diapers for the first time in Korea.

However, as adult diapers unexpectedly sold well, large distributors who had not handled them began importing large quantities and selling them at dumping prices, intensifying competition. Then, at the end of 1997, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) foreign exchange crisis occurred, which turned out to be an opportunity for CEO An, who handled small quantities. He visited medical supply companies in Taiwan and other places that had traded with bankrupt domestic companies and boldly requested, "Please supply products at half price." Taiwanese companies, having lost their sales channels and with no other options, lowered their prices according to his wishes.

The young man who drove a used van bought for 800,000 won and traveled around Jongno and Yeongdeungpo alone became the president of a company with sales of 7 billion won 24 years later. The company has now grown to import and distribute about 350 types and 20,000 items, including elderly products such as adult walkers, portable toilets, bath chairs, canes, medical supplies and equipment such as blood pressure monitors, stethoscopes, latex gloves, tweezers, forceps, and beds, as well as medical training teaching materials.

CEO An Gi-won (center) posing with Jinsan Medical employees.
Photo by Jinsan Medical

The best-selling products are elderly walking aids. Although each costs more than 200,000 won, over 10,000 units are sold annually. Various types of canes and medical training teaching materials also have high demand.

Recently, CEO An's concern is the ‘future.’ He stated, "Since these are labor-intensive products, domestic companies are reluctant to produce them directly, but because the related market is rapidly growing, it is possible to generate sufficient profits through mass production and automation," expressing his intention to establish a domestic factory.

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