Donghaeng Festival with 120 Billion KRW Sales in 7 Days... Online Success, Offline Slump

An information board announcing the event has been installed at Tongin Market in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 1st, marking the start of the '7-Day Companion Festival,' a consumption promotion event for products from small and medium-sized enterprises and small business owners.

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The ‘7-Day Together Festival,’ an event promoting the consumption of products from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and small business owners, recorded sales exceeding 120 billion KRW, surpassing last year’s performance despite the short event period. It is evaluated that the event performed well through various discount promotions and diversification of online sales channels despite adverse conditions such as typhoons and high inflation. However, low awareness due to insufficient promotion remained a regrettable point.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 8th that the preliminary tally of the ‘7-Day Together Festival’ sales reached at least 120 billion KRW. This figure was calculated by adding the 110.1 billion KRW sales over six days and estimating the seventh day’s sales at a minimum of 10.5 billion KRW. This performance exceeds last year’s sales of 118 billion KRW achieved over 18 days. Comparing average daily sales, this year’s daily sales were 17.1 billion KRW, approximately 2.6 times higher than last year’s 6.6 billion KRW.

About 92% (110.138 billion KRW) of this year’s sales were made online. In particular, TV home shopping and T-commerce recorded sales of 74.919 billion KRW over six days. Public Home Shopping sold 219 products through 94 special programs. Among these, ‘Sonjil Ojingeo’ (prepared squid) was the top hit product by order quantity, with approximately 7,500 units sold.

Online special exhibitions, including domestic online malls, local government malls, and online traditional market sections, recorded sales of 33.897 billion KRW over six days. The product with high sales in the online special exhibitions was the LA Galbi set sold on Half Club. Benefiting from the Chuseok holiday demand, sales volume exceeded 16,000 units, generating 500 million KRW in sales. The most sold product in the Naver online special exhibition was a ‘baby mat,’ which recorded sales of 28 million KRW during the festival period.

Live commerce generated sales of 1.322 billion KRW through 13 platforms. Notably, a company that participated in last year’s online special exhibition joined Naver Live Commerce this year and achieved more than double last year’s sales performance. Sales of ‘Bibim-eokneun Namul’ (seasoned vegetables for mixing) through Naver Shopping Live broadcasts increased by 600% compared to last year’s online special exhibition. Organic cosmetics brand A also saw sales rise by more than 200% compared to last year, receiving strong responses with over 2,000 consumers watching the product sales live. The rechargeable card-type Onnuri gift certificate, launched on the 29th of last month, saw an average daily recharge amount of 3.5 billion KRW during the six days of the festival, 1.8 times higher than usual. Additionally, the ‘Win-Win Consumption Lottery,’ a receipt event during the festival, received about 870,000 entries by the 6th.

Despite adverse factors such as high inflation dampening consumer sentiment and Typhoon Hinnamnor (Typhoon No. 11), the festival is considered a success in terms of performance. It is analyzed that scheduling the event just before Chuseok, instead of the usual June timing, was effective. However, the offline performance was disappointing to the extent that Minister Lee Young of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ pre-event pledge to “create a nationwide festival by holding large-scale offline events and citizen participation events, unlike last year” seemed unfulfilled. Traditional market shops in Seoul were quiet, and many citizens were unaware that the event was taking place. The reduction of the event period and the budget being halved to 2.5 billion KRW compared to previous years are seen as reasons why promotion and marketing fell short of expectations.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups has decided to extend part of the ‘7-Day Together Festival,’ originally scheduled for seven days, until mid-month. Choi Won-young, Director of Global Growth Policy at the Ministry, said, “As this is the first Chuseok holiday after the lifting of social distancing measures, we ask for your interest in win-win consumption by using traditional markets and small business stores with family and relatives.”

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