Pulmuone's 'Dububa' Captivates Japanese Men... 58 Million Units Sold

Last year's sales 19.4 billion KRW... 3.4 times that of 2 years ago
"Aim to raise Dububa's Japan sales to 30%"

Pulmuone's new concept plant-based protein product, 'Dububa,' is rapidly gaining popularity among Japanese consumers, continuing its ultra-fast sales growth. The cumulative sales volume has surpassed 58 million units in just over three years.

Pulmuone announced on the 7th that the sales of Dububa, launched by its Japanese subsidiary Asahiko in November 2020, grew 3.4 times from 633.63 million yen (approximately 5.7 billion KRW) in 2021 to 2.1635 billion yen (approximately 19.4 billion KRW) last year.

Dububa is a plant-based protein food, offering 10g of protein per product, providing a feeling of fullness along with a firm and chewy texture, making it very popular locally as a healthy snack. In 2021, it won the '2021 Best Hit Product Convenience Store Division Award' selected by the leading business monthly magazine Nikkei Trend. It is widely consumed mainly by men aged 30 to 50 as a meal replacement, for protein intake after exercise, and as a healthy snack. It is sold daily at about 80,000 units across approximately 30,000 stores of Japan's three major convenience stores: Seven-Eleven, FamilyMart, and Lawson.

Dububa surpassed 10 million cumulative sales within about one year of its launch, and then exceeded 20 million cumulative sales within six months, showing continuous high growth. As of the end of January this year, the total cumulative sales volume reached 58 million units. To meet the increasing demand for Dububa, Pulmuone expanded the local factory production lines twice, in January 2022 and March 2023. With an additional expansion planned for March this year, production capacity will increase from the current 2.18 million units per month to 3 million units per month to secure supply volume.

Pulmuone continuously releases new Dububa products tailored to local tastes, operating a diverse product lineup. Under its own brand, it sells four types: savory kelp, basil salt, lotus root and peas, and roasted sweet potato. For convenience store private brand (PB) products, it offers a total of 11 Dububa products, including Wafudashi seasoned with kelp and bonito broth, and Yuzukosho flavored with green chili and yuzu.

Mio Ikeda, CEO of Pulmuone Japan subsidiary Asahiko, said, "Dububa allows consumers to enjoy protein conveniently and efficiently anytime and anywhere, making it popular among local consumers regardless of age or gender." She added, "We plan to increase Dububa's sales proportion to more than 30% of the total sales of the Japanese subsidiary through continuous development of new products suited to local tastes and category expansion."

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