"Kids' Toys Are a Thing of the Past" CU Toy Candy Sales Soar Amid Collection Craze

A customer is choosing a Ottogi Toy Candy at CU.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] Toy candy, once considered children's toys, is capturing the hearts of aunts and uncles as well, emerging as a trending product.

According to CU on the 21st, toy candy sales last month jumped 128.4% compared to the same period last year. In just one year, the market size has grown about 2.5 times. Compared to the 15.9% growth in general candy sales during the same period, this is an eightfold increase.

The rapid growth in the toy candy category sales is due to the popularity of character toys such as keyrings and ottoogi included in toy candy as collectibles among the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z).

In fact, according to CU, about 14.9% of customers who purchased toy candy last month were teenagers, an increase of 4.2 percentage points compared to the same period last year, and the proportion of customers in their 20s rose by 7.4% to 26.5%.

Since March, the Ttibuttbussi seal craze has sparked great popularity for character figures and stickers as collectibles, and character toy candy originally released targeting infants and toddlers has begun to receive explosive interest among MZ generation customers as well.

CU’s Ottoogi toy candy is also gaining word-of-mouth popularity, with posts asking about stores where the product can be found continuously appearing in online communities. Customer demand has exceeded production, leading to some items currently being limited to one set per store as the maximum order quantity.

In response to the growing customer interest in toy candy, CU will release ‘One Piece Ottoogi Sweet Candy’ featuring characters from the comic ‘One Piece’ on the 22nd. This product contains a mini ottoogi randomly including one of 14 One Piece characters.

Starting from the 6th of next month, CU plans to sequentially launch industry-exclusive products such as ‘Bread Keyring Candy (2,500 won)’, ‘Secret Jouju Keyring Candy (2,500 won)’, and ‘Porong Porong Keyring Candy (2,500 won)’. Each product randomly includes 20 character keyrings from the respective animations.

Kim Jangwoong, MD of the Snack Food Team at BGF Retail, said, “As the popularity of toy candy originally released for children increases, we are preparing the most diverse exclusive products using characters loved by customers of various age groups in the industry.” He added, “We will continue to expand differentiated products that can only be found at CU to strengthen product competitiveness.”

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