2030 Opens Wallets for Health... 'Geongisik' Market Grows to 5 Trillion Won Scale

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] As COVID-19 prolongs, the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z) is emerging as a major force in the health functional food market. While the health supplement market was previously dominated by middle-aged and older adults, consumption by the MZ generation is increasing, leading to the release of products targeting younger consumers one after another.

According to the Korea Health Supplements Association on the 18th, the health supplement market recently exceeded 5 trillion won in size. This is due to the spread of a culture focused on managing one’s health independently amid the prolonged COVID-19 situation.

In particular, the self-care culture is prominent among young people. Health functional food specialist company Frombio recorded sales of 108 billion won last year. It achieved 66% growth over two years during the COVID-19 situation. Sales reached 104.6 billion won by the third quarter of this year, and it is expected to surpass last year’s sales. Frombio attributes this success to the effectiveness of launching health supplement products targeting the younger generation.

Frombio considered the recent strong interest of young generations in outdoor sports such as golf and tennis and introduced products like ‘Gwanjeol Yeongolen Boswellia Light’ to help joint and cartilage health for these age groups. They also launched numerous diet health supplements popular among young consumers, such as ‘Healthy Fit Wild Mango Diet,’ actively targeting the younger generation.

In this way, the younger generation is rapidly emerging as the main pillar of the health supplement market. Among KGC Ginseng Corporation’s Jeonggwanjang sales, the share of the 20s and 30s age group was only 5%. However, it has grown sharply since last year and is approaching 20% this year. At health and beauty (H&B) store Olive Young, the purchase amount of health supplements by the 20s and 30s generation increased by about 32% compared to the previous year, and sales in the health supplement category at Olive Young until November this year rose by 24% compared to the same period last year.

A food industry official explained, "As the awareness that health should be taken care of from a young age strengthens, consumption of health supplements by the 20s and 30s generation is rapidly increasing," adding, "Since health supplements tend to be consumed over a long period, the related market is expected to continue growing steadily."

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