'Stay-at-Home Effect?' Increased Imports of Leisure Items Like Projectors

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] As indoor life has increased due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the import scale of leisure items that can be enjoyed while so-called 'Jipkok' (staying at home) has also grown accordingly.

According to the Korea Customs Service on the 31st, the total import amount of indoor leisure items last year was $95.57 million, an increase of 36.5% compared to the previous year.

Indoor leisure items with increased imports include computers such as laptops and tablets, LCD and OLED TVs, projectors, exercise equipment, video games, block toys, and card and board games.

The Korea Customs Service interprets the recent increase in imports of these items as influenced by the Jipkok culture caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

For example, as telecommuting has become routine and OTT, gaming, and online performances are enjoyed at home, the demand for laptops and tablets has increased, leading to a rise in imports of computer-related items. Due to this influence, the import amount of computer items last year increased by 30.4% compared to the previous year.

The import amounts of TVs and projectors, which allow watching movies at home without going to the theater using a screen, also increased significantly. In terms of import amount changes by item, TVs increased by 77.8% and projectors by 20.4% compared to 2020.

In particular, the recent increase in imports of large-screen OLED TVs, classified as high-priced items, is notable. This is analyzed as reflecting the increased TV viewing time and the compensatory consumption desire due to COVID blues. It indicates that more consumers are willingly purchasing high-priced devices for self-satisfaction.

Newly coined terms like ‘Home Training (HomeT)’, ‘Home Gym (HomeGym)’ indicate that the use of home exercise equipment has become widespread recently. Reflecting this, the import amount of exercise equipment last year increased by 33.1% compared to the previous year.

Also, recently, game consoles, block toys, and board games have been gaining popularity as items suitable for spending time indoors. Correspondingly, the Korea Customs Service reported that last year, imports of video game consoles increased by 70.5%, block toys by 38.9%, and card and board games by 107.0% compared to the previous year.

The main import country for leisure items is China. The total import amount of items such as computers, projectors, exercise equipment, game consoles, and block toys imported from China accounts for 61.9% of the total, followed by Vietnam at 16.1% and Singapore at 5.5%.

However, the largest import country for TVs is Indonesia (61.9%), where domestic electronics companies have overseas factories, and for card and board games, the United States (58.7%) has the highest share.

A Korea Customs Service official said, “As the time spent enjoying leisure at home has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, imports of home leisure items are also increasing significantly,” and added, “This trend is expected to continue for the time being.”

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