Due to high prices at street cafes, many are saving money by enjoying their coffee at home. (image: Stuart Colville/flickr)
SEOUL, April 21 (Korea Bizwire) – As more Koreans are starting to enjoy homemade coffee at reasonable prices, coffee machine sales are steadily increasing. Popular models include capsule-type machines, which stand out for their simple operation.
Lotte Department Store has six brands of coffee machines on offer since 2009, including Nespresso, Dolce Gusto, illy, Cremesso, Melitta and Jura. Their sales of coffee machines, which saw 6.5 percent and 7.2 percent growth in 2012 and 2013 respectively, increased by 12.6 percent in 2014.
Lotte explained that high interest in coffee and strong product design were driving increased sales of the devices.
At HiMart, Dolce Gusto’s capsule coffee machine has seen high growth, especially in March, which recorded a 30 percent increase in sales over the previous month. An official at HiMart said, “In the past, the coffee machines sold well in the fall and winter, but now spring is popular as more people want to enjoy coffee at home comfortably.”
As sales of coffee machines rise, demand for related products like coffee capsules and coffee beans is increasing, too. At Interpark, an online shopping site, sales of capsule coffee last year increased 150 percent over 2013, while sales of coffee beans rose 50 percent.
Gmarket saw increases of 203 percent and 275 percent respectively for capsule coffee and coffee beans sales over the same period. A Gmarket official said, “Due to high prices at street cafes, many are saving money by enjoying their coffee at home. As they can make various kinds of coffee with the machines according to their tastes, they can increase their enjoyment of homemade coffee.”
By John Choi (johnchoi@koreabizwire.com)
