In Their 40s, They Were Big Spenders at Convenience Stores... Surpassing Those in Their 20s

CU·GS25, Increasing Sales Share Among Customers in Their 40s
The Role of 'Neighborhood Convenience Stores' for People in Their 40s

The 40s age group is rapidly emerging as the core consumer base of convenience stores.

According to convenience store CU on the 22nd, the sales proportion by age group from the 1st to 3rd quarter this year shows that people in their 20s to 40s account for 80.7% of total sales. Specifically, those in their 30s had the highest share at 28.0%, followed by the 40s at 27.2%. The 20s accounted for 25.5%, followed by the 50s at 9.0%, teens at 5.5%, and those aged 60 and above at 4.8%.

CU Olympic Plaza Branch
Photo by Yonhap News

Over the past five years, the sales proportion of the 40s has increased from 21.8% in 2018 to 26.4% last year, rising by 4.6 percentage points. During the same period, the 30s decreased from 30.7% to 28.6%, and the 20s dropped from 35.0% to 25.8%. Last year, for the first time, the 40s surpassed the 20s in CU’s sales share, and this trend continued this year with the gap widening further.

This trend is similar at GS25. Comparing the sales proportions by age group between 2018 and this year, the 40s rose from 24.6% to 29.8%, becoming the top group overall. The 10s to 20s decreased from 32.8% to 24.6%, and the 30s dropped from 31.3% to 25.4%.

40s Buy Items at Convenience Stores That They Would Have Purchased at Local Supermarkets... Ready Meals Also Attract 40s

The convenience store industry attributes the significant expansion of the 40s’ sales share to the role convenience stores play as a 'local neighborhood shop' for people in their 40s.

In fact, based on CU’s data from January to October this year, the items most frequently purchased by people in their 40s were beer, coffee, hangover relief drinks, milk, carbonated beverages, ramen, snacks, processed meat products, desserts, and soju, in that order. Many of these items were typically bought at local supermarkets, which have now virtually disappeared.

An industry insider said, "People in their 40s today have grown up with convenience stores nearby since their teenage years, making the presence of convenience stores very familiar," adding, "It would not be strange to call convenience stores the 'supermarket for people in their 40s.'"

The rise of convenience stores as 'ready meal hotspots' is also analyzed as a factor attracting the 40s. As the 40s, who have a high proportion of office workers, feel the burden of rising dining-out prices, they have become the main customers of convenience store ready meals. In fact, based on CU’s sales share of meal kits by age group from January to October this year, the 40s accounted for 28.2%, second only to the 30s at 30.3%.

The convenience store industry expects that the emergence of the 40s as a core consumer base will become an important variable in business strategies.

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