Increase in Gift Certificate Purchases by Households with Children and Health Food Purchases by Single-Person Households before Chuseok

KB Kookmin Card Analyzes Last Year's Chuseok Holiday Spending Trends
Surge in Both Online and Offline Consumption Detected

An analysis of consumer data from last year's Chuseok holiday period showed that both online and offline spending surged starting one week before the holiday began.

On the 7th, citizens are selecting Chuseok gifts at a large supermarket in Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

On September 30, KB Kookmin Card announced the results of its analysis of weekly changes in offline retail and online shopping mall food-related sales, based on sales figures from five to six weeks before the start of last year's Chuseok holiday period.

The offline sectors included agricultural, fisheries, and livestock product stores, supermarkets, side dish specialty stores, department stores, and large supermarkets.

The survey found that online consumption during last year's Chuseok holiday increased evenly, with a 48% rise in the week before the holiday and a 47% increase two weeks prior.

Offline retail sectors saw a 22% increase in the week before the holiday, and a 31% increase during the holiday period itself.

Driven by the growing popularity of mobile gifting, online purchases of gift certificates also jumped by 152% in the week leading up to the holiday.

Looking at the main offline retail sectors, the highest sales growth rates in both the week before Chuseok and during the holiday period were seen at agricultural, fisheries, and livestock product stores, as well as side dish specialty stores.

Sales of agricultural, fisheries, and livestock products increased by 66% in the week before Chuseok, and by 84% during the holiday period. Side dish specialty stores also saw a 125% increase during the holiday period.

In the two weeks before Chuseok, online food purchases rose among both households with children and single-person households. Among fresh foods, meat purchases increased by 71% and 69%, respectively, while among processed foods, health food purchases rose by 69%.

Households with children showed a particularly large increase in gift certificate purchases, up by 114%.

Households with children also outpaced single-person households in the growth rates for purchases of nuts, seafood, and fruit, with higher increases compared to normal periods.

A KB Kookmin Card representative stated, "Last year, we confirmed that offline retail sales continued to rise during the Chuseok holiday period. We hope that this year, the long holiday will also bring a surge in sales for traditional market merchants and small business owners."

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