Only 0.1% Difference... Nongshim and Orion Neck-and-Neck for No.1 in Snack Market

Tug-of-War Snack Market, Who Will Win This Year?

First Half Market: Nongshim Leads with 23.5% Share
Strengthening Lead with 'Saewookkang' and 'Meoktaekkang'
Orion Counters with 'Pocachip' Extended Products

The fierce competition for the top spot between Nongshim and Orion, the two giants in the domestic snack market, continues this year as well. Last year, Nongshim, which was the leader, added 'Meoktaekang' to its Kkang snack lineup centered around 'Saewookkang,' while Orion is accelerating its efforts to reclaim the lead by introducing expanded products such as 'Pocachip' and 'Kkobukchip.'

According to market research firm Market Link on the 27th, in the first half of this year’s snack retail market, Nongshim recorded a market share of 23.5%, ranking first, followed closely by Orion with a 23.4% share.

The leading position among manufacturers in the domestic snack retail market has been fiercely contested between Nongshim and Orion for the past few years. In 2020, Nongshim demonstrated overwhelming competitiveness with its flagship product Saewookkang being the only single brand to surpass 100 billion KRW in sales, achieving total snack sales of 475.2 billion KRW and a market share of 24.1%, ranking first. Orion followed with sales of 453.2 billion KRW and a 23.0% market share.

However, the following year, Orion raised its market share to 24.5%, pushing Nongshim (23.5%) to second place. Although Saewookkang maintained its position as the top brand with sales still over 100 billion KRW, its sales decreased by 6.7% compared to the previous year, contributing to the overall decline in market share. But last year, Nongshim quickly rebounded with Saewookkang sales increasing by 17.0% year-on-year to 133.3 billion KRW, reclaiming the top spot. Meanwhile, Orion’s Pocachip sales dropped by 1.9% to 92.1 billion KRW.

Nongshim appears to be maintaining its leading position this year by continuing the positive momentum from last year. As of the first half of the year, Nongshim’s sales increased by 5.1% compared to the same period last year, reaching 234.1 billion KRW with a market share of 23.5%. This year, Nongshim Kellogg’s ‘Pringles’ has shown remarkable growth. Pringles, which surpassed Lotte Wellfood’s ‘Kkokkalcorn’ last year with sales in the 80 billion KRW range, recorded first-half sales of 50.1 billion KRW, a 25.2% increase year-on-year, overtaking Pocachip to become the second top brand after Saewookkang.

While Nongshim maintained the number one market share in the first half, it is expected to solidify its lead in the second half with ‘Meoktaekang.’ According to Nongshim, Meoktaekang surpassed 6 million cumulative sales within 12 weeks of its launch in June. To meet the increasing demand, Nongshim expanded production from its original Busan factory to the Asan factory starting last month. Production, which was about 300,000 packs per week at launch, has now doubled to 600,000 packs.

Other manufacturers, including Orion, are also actively introducing expanded products of their existing popular brands to increase market share. Orion recently launched 'Pocachip Max,' 'Kkobukchip Spicy Flavor,' and 'Jjikmeok Nacho Chipotle Mayo Sauce Flavor,' showing full effort to reclaim the lead. Lotte Wellfood released ‘Oing Nogari Chip’ as a counter to Meoktaekang. Additionally, Haitai Confectionery introduced 'The Ppasae,' which contains 20% more shrimp than the original 'Ppasae.'

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