Recent market analysis has revealed that women in their 20s and 30s comprise nearly half the consumer base for Korean traditional alcoholic beverages. (Image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Feb. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Recent market analysis has revealed that women in their 20s and 30s comprise nearly half the consumer base for Korean traditional alcoholic beverages.
From July to December (2017), women between the ages of 20 and 39 were responsible for 49.7 percent of online traditional liquor sales (9.7 percent by those in their 20s, 40.0 percent by those in their 30s), beating out men in the same age group, who comprised 36.1 percent.
With the Lunar New Year period (Feb. 15-16) and the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics (opening ceremony on Feb. 9) fast approaching, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs conducted a breakdown of big data gathered from social networking sites and sales figures from online and offline channels and disclosed its findings on February 6.
Parsing the SNS big data found that the locations where traditional liquors were most commonly imbibed were Gangnam, Hongdae, Itaewon and other neighborhoods heavily frequented by the 20s and 30s crowd. (Image: Yonhap)
The researchers scoured blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for the keywords “Lunar New Year”, “national holiday” and “traditional liquors” and accessed records provided by Nonghyup Hanaro Mart (2016-2017) and e-commerce platforms Gmarket and Auction (July-December).
Prior to July 1, online sales of traditional liquors were restricted to internet shopping malls run by the manufacturer or select entities only. As part of a push to revitalize the market — revenues generated by traditional liquors dropped from 92.4 million won in 2005 to 40.9 million won in 2015, attributed to the increased presence of imported beverages — the National Tax Service chose to permit the sale of traditional liquors via non-manufacturer online retail platforms.
The approval of traditional liquors among young women runs counter to past consumption trends, when this category of spirits was typically favored by older demographics and by men.
Parsing the SNS big data found that the locations where traditional liquors were most commonly imbibed were Gangnam, Hongdae, Itaewon and other neighborhoods heavily frequented by the 20s and 30s crowd.
Interest in traditional liquors in the past was minimal, spiking only during the national holiday periods of the Lunar New Year and Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving holiday. Thanks to easier access and the release of diversified drinks, interest is holding strong with sales of distilled beverages on the rise.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
