"Prices Rose and Keep Rising"... Evolution of Half-Price Ready Meals in Marts Amid Persistent High Inflation

Large Supermarkets Move Beyond Price Wars with Half-Price Chicken and Pizza
Emphasizing 'Cost-Effectiveness + Alpha (α)' to Differentiate and Segment Products
Convenience Stores Expand Product Range as Customers Seek Bulk Options

Models are introducing ready-to-eat products at the deli corner of Homeplus Gangseo Branch in Deokchon-dong, Seoul.

As high inflation continues, the retail industry’s value-for-money (performance relative to price) competition to reduce consumers' meal costs has entered its second round. Large supermarkets and convenience stores are securing competitiveness with differentiated products emphasizing 'better quality and variety' following 'cheaper prices for the same quantity.'

According to the retail industry on the 19th, large supermarkets, which had been competing on price with half-price chicken·pizza, recently started differentiating and segmenting products by emphasizing 'value-for-money + alpha (α).' Lotte Mart added 'premium' to value-for-money. Starting from the 22nd, it will launch the 'One Pound Shrimp Pizza' under its own pizza brand 'Cheese & Dough.' The L size (13-inch) pizza is replaced by an 18-inch extra-large pizza, twice the area, with shrimp toppings about three times the amount of other franchise pizzas’ shrimp toppings (around 150g), totaling 1 pound (453g) of shrimp toppings. It is said to offer good value at a price in the high 10,000 KRW range (19,800 KRW). Lotte Mart will also introduce a 'One Geun Beef Bulgogi Pizza' topped with 600g of beef bulgogi ingredients next month.

Lotte Mart, 'One Pound Shrimp Pizza'.

Convenience stores are focusing on 'large portions.' As lunch inflation (lunch + inflation) leads more people to seek convenient meals at convenience stores, large triangular kimbap has become popular. From the 1st to the 14th, the proportion of large triangular kimbap sales at GS25 reached 66%. In terms of sales growth rate, large triangular kimbap grew by 35.6%, surpassing regular triangular kimbap (27.7%). At 7-Eleven, the sales growth rate of large triangular kimbap during this period reached 200%. There is also a preference for large-sized instant brewed coffee. CU’s large size sales accounted for 72.3%.

Alcoholic beverages are also popular in relatively affordable domestic and large-volume options. At CU, sales of beer in PET bottles grew by 14.2%, outpacing cans (8.8%) and bottles (9.2%). Cass and Terra 1.6ℓ, and Cass 1ℓ domestic beers ranked within the top 10 in sales. This month, convenience stores will introduce larger volume products such as OB Beer’s 'Cass 2.0 Mega PET' and Hite Jinro’s 'Terra 1.9ℓ.' GS25 operates about 30 types of magnum-sized (1.5ℓ) wines, larger than the regular wine size (750ml), on its online liquor platform Wine25Plus.

As food prices continue to rise across fresh and processed foods, consumers increasingly seek convenient and relatively affordable ready-to-eat meals. From the 5th of last month to the 4th of this month, sales at Homeplus’s ready-to-eat food (deli) corner increased by 49% year-on-year. Sales during lunchtime, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., jumped 64%. Lotte Mart and E-Mart also saw deli sales increase by 40% and 26%, respectively, from the 1st to the 13th of this month.

A retail industry official said, "It is difficult to pursue diversity sustainably if competing only on low prices," adding, "In a situation where attention is focused on high inflation, the industry will quickly introduce various products that can give the perception of 'this quality at this price is excellent.'"

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