"Targeting Honsol-jok"... Convenience Stores Aim for Lunar New Year Sales Boost

Seven Eleven Sumi's Seol Simple Meal 4 Types.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Office worker Kim Mo (30) decided not to visit his parents' home during this Lunar New Year holiday. He was reluctant to go home due to the high number of COVID-19 cases in Seoul. Instead, he sent his parents more allowance than before. Kim said, "If the whole family gathers, someone might catch COVID-19. This year, I will stay home and get enough rest," adding, "I plan to order food delivery or use convenience stores."

According to the industry on the 12th, convenience store sales significantly increased during last year's Chuseok holiday. At that time, the government designated a special quarantine period for Chuseok and maintained the core measures of social distancing level 2. At GS25, sales of lunch boxes and ready meals during last year's Chuseok increased by 29.7% compared to Chuseok 2019, and CU saw a 16.2% increase in ready meal sales. During the same period, Seven Eleven's lunch box sales rose by 36.9%, and frozen ready meals such as dumplings and frozen fried rice increased by 17.8%. Emart24 also experienced a 48% surge in lunch box and ready meal product sales.

Following last Chuseok, the number of 'Honsoljok' (people spending Lunar New Year alone) is increasing this Seollal as well, greatly influencing convenience store industry trends. Major convenience stores expect sales to rise during the upcoming Lunar New Year. They have introduced lunch boxes and ready meals targeting Honsoljok. This is based on the judgment that, with gatherings of five or more people prohibited due to COVID-19, many single-person households will use ready meals to create a festive atmosphere.

GS25 launched the "Saehaebokmanibadoso" holiday lunch box with the concept of a hearty Lunar New Year table. It is an 8-dish lunch box consisting of representative holiday foods such as assorted mushroom beef bulgogi, assorted jeon (4 types), burdock japchae, tofu spinach salad, and spicy stir-fried squid. CU released a ready meal series commemorating the Year of the Ox. The ready meal series includes four Western-style dishes using beef (pasta, hamburger, sandwich, French fries).

Seven Eleven collaborated with Kim Sumi to release four products: Sumi's Abundant Lunch Box, Sumi's Assorted Jeon, Sumi's Braised Pork Ribs, and Sumi's Five-color Japchae. Emart24 introduced a rice cake and dumpling soup set consisting of three meat dumplings, two kimchi dumplings, and rice cake slices. They also strengthened Peacock brand ready-to-eat products such as grilled tteokgalbi and Soonhee's Bindaetteok.

An industry official said, "Strong social distancing measures due to COVID-19 will continue throughout the holiday period, increasing demand for convenience store ready meals," adding, "We have launched various category products so that people can enjoy festive food easily and abundantly even when alone."

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