'Hite Zero 0.00', Surpasses 72 Million Cans in Cumulative Sales

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] Hite Jinro Beverage announced on the 10th that the sales of 'Hite Zero 0.00,' the country's representative non-alcoholic beer-flavored beverage, grew by 50% in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year.

By quarter, sales in the first and second quarters of this year increased by 39% and 57%, respectively, compared to the same period last year. Especially in June and July, which can be considered the summer peak season for the beverage industry, sales surged by more than 100% compared to the same period last year, raising expectations for more than double growth in the second half of the year compared to last year.

Launched in November 2012, Hite Zero 0.00 has surpassed cumulative sales of 72 million cans, and in July alone, it sold 2.4 million cans, setting new monthly records continuously.

The high growth of Hite Zero 0.00 is analyzed to be the result of a strategy that renewed the product with an 'All-Free' concept, fitting the health-conscious drinking culture trend. Hite Jinro Beverage has encouraged competitors to participate in expanding the domestic market by following global trends in the non-alcoholic beverage market and using the Japanese market as a leading model. Accordingly, in March, it became the first non-alcoholic beer-flavored beverage in Korea to adopt the All-Free concept, conducting a major renewal that zeroed not only alcohol but also calories, sugars, and sodium.

According to domestic liquor tax law, beverages with an alcohol content below 1% are classified as drinks rather than alcoholic beverages. These are further divided into 'Alcohol Free' with no alcohol at all and 'Non-Alcoholic' containing less than 1% alcohol. While most products launched domestically are non-alcoholic, Hite Zero 0.00 belongs to the alcohol-free category with absolutely no alcohol.

'Hite Zero 0.00' features the All-Free concept and realizes the 'refreshing sensation that hits the throat,' which is considered the true taste of beer. Unlike some carbonated drinks that claim zero calories by using alternative sweeteners, it is a pure zero-calorie product that uses no sugar or alternative sweeteners, successfully targeting not only beer drinkers but also consumers looking for alternatives to high-calorie, high-sugar carbonated drinks.

In fact, major domestic products range from a minimum of 30 kcal to a maximum of 95 kcal per can, while Hite Zero 0.00 has the lowest at 13.8 kcal, which qualifies as zero calories according to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety's labeling standards.

The domestic non-alcoholic beer market size was 15 billion KRW last year and is expected to exceed 20 billion KRW this year. The company anticipates that the domestic market will have growth potential exceeding 200 billion KRW in the future, following the global trend of increasing sales proportions of non-alcoholic beer-flavored beverages, and plans to continue active marketing and product upgrades.

In Japan, where the non-alcoholic beer-flavored beverage market was formed three years earlier than in Korea, companies such as Kirin, Suntory, Asahi, and Sapporo simultaneously launched new products, resulting in a market worth 700 billion KRW based on shipment prices within four years. Currently, the Japanese market is about 850 billion KRW, accounting for approximately 4% of the entire beer market in Japan. In Germany, known as the homeland of beer, the non-alcoholic market accounts for 8% of the total beer market.

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