This Year's Chuseok Gift E-commerce Purchase Trend is 'Health'

E-commerce Platform Shows Most Active Consumption of Health-Related Products

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] Ahead of this year's Chuseok, e-commerce platforms have shown that health-related products are the most actively consumed as gifts. This is interpreted as a result of increased interest in health due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and the activation of non-face-to-face online transactions for preparing holiday gifts.

According to TMON on the 19th, a survey of mobile gift sales ahead of the Chuseok holiday found that the most popular product category was ‘Food & Health (24%)’. This compares mobile gift sales for ten days from the 1st with the same period last year (September 13?22).

Following health-related products, gift sales were highest in the order of maternity & infants at 23%, and brand fashion at 7%. Compared to last year, the first year of the full-scale spread of COVID-19, when the food & health category accounted for about half at 43%, gift preferences have somewhat diversified, but TMON explains that the popularity of health-related products continues this year as well.

Moreover, mobile gift sales have grown to eight times the size compared to last year. It is also notable that interest in gifting health products was highest among people in their 30s. Usage of TMON’s mobile gift service was dominated by those in their 30s at 51%, followed by 40s at 26%, and 20s at 14%. This is evidence that interest in health is increasing even among younger generations.

This Chuseok gift trend is confirmed not only on TMON but across online shopping in general. Gmarket and Auction compared sales volume for one week earlier this month with the same period before last year’s Chuseok, and the product with the highest sales growth rate was health supplements (18%).

Additionally, a recent sample survey by big data company Ideaware of about 20,000 products sold at 17 major domestic online comprehensive shopping malls showed that among ‘processed foods’, the category with the highest purchase amount was ‘health functional foods’. Health functional foods accounted for 36% of the total purchase amount of processed foods at major online shopping malls. Among these, the most purchased detailed product groups were nutritional supplements, red ginseng & ginseng, diet foods, vitamins & minerals, health supplements, and health juices, with health functional foods occupying 7 out of the top 20 processed food sales categories.

An e-commerce industry official explained, "Sustained high interest in health due to COVID-19, the activation of non-face-to-face online transactions, and the characteristics of online shopping that make searching and comparing easy have contributed to increased consumption of health-related products as Chuseok gifts."

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