"Hit the Jackpot When Holding Hands"...Distribution Families Addicted to Games

Convenience Stores, Food, Fashion Collaborate with Gaming Industry... Targeting Young Adults in Their 20s and 30s
Retailers Expand Customer Base, Gaming Industry Gains Promotion for a Win-Win

A customer is choosing from the Cookie Run bread series, a collaboration between CU and the mobile game "Cookie Run: Kingdom."

[Asia Economy Reporters Seungyun Song, Jinyoung Jeon] The distribution industry has recently been actively collaborating with the gaming industry. Such collaborations are considered a "guaranteed hit" to attract young customers in their 20s and 30s.

According to CU on the 15th, the Cookie Run bread series, launched last year in partnership with the mobile game "Cookie Run Kingdom," surpassed 12.5 million units sold as of the previous day. Among the Cookie Run series sales from January to July, customers in their 20s accounted for 34.8%, and those in their 30s accounted for 28.6%.

GS25's MapleStory bread, launched in June in collaboration with Nexon's "MapleStory," also exceeded 4 million units sold as of the previous day. GS25 has previously held events with game companies such as KartRider, Ragnarok, and Fortress. A GS25 representative said, "When collaboration events such as game item giveaways are held, sales in the relevant category typically increase by about 30% or more."

Seven Eleven is gaining popularity with Pok?mon-related products. Following the release of Sanrio keyrings in May, Pok?mon character keyrings were launched in July, resulting in a tenfold increase in toy candy product sales from May to August compared to the same period last year. The Smile Pok?mon Play Zone popup store in Jamsil attracted 3.5 million visitors over one month.

Emart24's Black Desert series, launched in collaboration with the online game "Black Desert," competed for first and second place in sales within each product category while the products were on sale. The offline popup store attracted about 23,000 visitors over one month.

The food and beverage industry is also releasing unique collaboration products with the gaming industry. One Spirits Co., Ltd. recently introduced the "One Soju Classic Lineage W Edition," a collaboration with NCSoft's Lineage W, as the first product of their new "One Soju Classic" line.

The fashion industry is no different. Fila made headlines in 2018 by releasing a collaboration collection with Battlegrounds. Since then, they have continued collaborations by partnering with famous Twitch streamers and YouTube gaming creators to launch products.

An industry insider said, "The distribution industry can expand its customer base by arousing the curiosity of the gaming industry's customers, and game companies can promote effectively, making it a win-win strategy."

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