"Sell Directly and Launch if Response is Good"... Focus on Social Funding

Maeil Dairy's easily digestible milk with domestic five-grain misutgaru. Photo by Maeil Dairy

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] In the food industry, a new marketing method is emerging where companies test new products through group order platforms and, if the response is positive, officially launch and sell them. This approach reduces the burden of new product launches and also provides promotional effects targeting the MZ generation, the main demographic of social funding platforms, making it a win-win strategy.

According to industry sources on the 21st, Maeil Dairies recently pre-sold its new product, "Domestic 5-Grain Misutgaru," a "digestible milk," on Kakao Makers on the 30th of last month before its official launch. Maeil Dairies reported that all 7,000 boxes (24 units per box) prepared were sold out within two days of the sales start, showing great popularity.

The pork cutlet franchise "Bueong-i Donkaseu" sold out 100 sets of its "Dirty Cheese Donkaseu" on Kakao Makers within just one hour of its launch on the 11th of this month. Customer interest continues, with over 1,800 people signing up for reorder notifications.

On the same day, Hwacheon-gun, Gangwon Province, sold out 3,000 boxes (about 15 tons) of tomatoes, which were at risk of being discarded at the production site, through the internet on Kakao Makers. This was achieved in just 30 minutes after sales began. The price was 11,900 KRW per box, about 42% lower than the market price (20,515 KRW).

Kakao Makers attributes this to the "Donzzul" movement, which arose mainly among the MZ generation, as farmers suffered due to the cancellation of the tomato festival caused by COVID-19.

In May of this year, Ottogi's "Gogiri Perilla Oil Makguksu," which received its first orders through a pre-release on Kakao Makers, sold out 10,000 sets prepared within three hours of the order start.

Meanwhile, Kakao Makers' cumulative transaction amount surpassed 400 billion KRW as of June this year. This is an achievement reached about half a year after hitting 300 billion KRW in November last year.

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