"Capture Year-End Demand"... Convenience Stores' Full-Scale Wine Battle

Wine Sales 'All-Time High'
About 30% of Total Sales in November-December
Major Discount Events Starting This Month

On the 13th, a model is selecting Swing Shiraz wine at the convenience store GS25.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] As the peak season for wine approaches at the end of the year, convenience store chains are launching all-out efforts. With the spread of COVID-19 increasing the number of ‘home drinking’ consumers who drink wine at home, convenience store wine sales are reaching record highs. From this month, convenience stores are holding wine events to target the market in the second half of the year.

According to the convenience store industry on the 13th, wine sales from November to December last year accounted for about 30% of the total annual sales for the four major convenience store chains. This is because various holidays such as Pepero Day and Christmas are concentrated at the end of the year. In fact, at CU, wine sales in the last two months of last year accounted for 27.5% of total sales, 27.8% at GS25, 35% at 7-Eleven, and 33% at Emart24.

Wine continues to enjoy explosive popularity this year as well. Wine imports have already surpassed twice the scale of beer imports. Last year, wine imports exceeded beer imports for the first time, and this gap has widened this year. According to the Korea Customs Service and the liquor industry last month, wine import value from January to August this year reached $370.45 million, a sharp increase of 96.5% compared to the same period last year. This is 2.5 times the beer import value ($149.78 million) during the same period. Convenience store wine sales are also rapidly growing. At CU, wine sales from the 1st to the 7th of this month increased by 76.1% compared to the same period last year. GS25 saw a 59.9% increase, 7-Eleven 172.1%, and Emart24 72% growth.

Convenience stores have started full-scale discount events from this month. CU is selling its popular product, Eum! Premium Wine, at about 13% off. They also prepared promotions such as 3 bottles of G7 Mini Wine for 9,900 won, and 4 bottles of Sangria 375 and BABE canned wine for 10,000 won. GS25 is mainly offering discounts on wines priced between 10,000 and 20,000 won, such as two bottles of Swing Shiraz for 10,000 won. 7-Eleven launched four recommended wines of the month, selling them at prices 30% lower than the existing domestic retail price. Emart24 is running a uniform price event with the largest number of promotional products and discounts ever applied in November on about 100 types of wine.

As convenience store wine gains popularity, the product range is gradually diversifying. Prices range widely from around 5,000 won to several million won. Among the 750ml wines sold by the four major convenience store chains, the lowest price is Operatico sold at GS25 for 5,900 won. The most expensive wine is Ch?teau Lafite Rothschild sold at 7-Eleven for 1.79 million won.

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