"COVID Home-Stay Era" CJ O Shopping Plus Sees 8-Fold Growth in General Food Order Amounts

O Shopping Plus General Food Order Amount Increases 8 Times... Total Orders Reach 1 Million
Maintaining Strengthened General Food Policy This Year... Expanding Broadcasts Focused on Meat Products Ahead of Lunar New Year

From the left, 'Hanugo-bang Two-Ppoul Hanwoo', 'Shinsegae Pork Galbi', 'Butcher's Cut LA Galbi'.

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] Last year, as the number of 'homebodies' increased due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the general food sector of T-commerce channels experienced rapid growth.

CJ ENM Commerce Division CJ O Shopping Plus announced on the 20th that the order amount for general food last year increased about 8 times compared to the previous year. The total number of orders reached 1 million.

The company explained, "This is the result of the surge in demand for home-cooked meals during the COVID home-stay era combined with product planning capabilities that introduced a food portfolio centered on celebrities and offline popular restaurants." Last year, CJ O Shopping Plus operated a total of 151 products from 73 brands. Among them, new products increased about 4 times compared to 2019, reaching 96.

As non-face-to-face consumption increased due to the spread of COVID-19, the frequency of purchasing general food through T-commerce, which offers convenient ordering and payment, also increased. According to the 2020 processed food consumer attitude survey announced by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Rural Economic Institute, the proportion of processed food purchased through telecommunication sales such as online malls and TV home shopping rose nearly threefold from 4.0% in 2019 to 11.4% last year.

The company explained, "Compared to TV home shopping, T-commerce, which has less burden in terms of fees and product volume, served as a kind of testbed for new products," adding, "Products that recorded good results on CJ O Shopping Plus also performed well in TV live broadcasts, creating a virtuous cycle." The 'Chef Choi Hyun-seok Safe Steak' launched on CJ O Shopping Plus in July last year exceeded 90% of its target performance. Later, it gained popularity by selling more than 3,000 units during the CJ O Shopping launch broadcast in November.

Meanwhile, CJ O Shopping plans to expand general food broadcasts focusing on meat products ahead of the Lunar New Year. On the 21st and 22nd, 'Choi Hyun-seok LA Galbi' and 'Kim Na-woon LA Galbi' will be broadcast respectively. Actress Yang Hee-kyung's 'Ban Gi Su Ra Galbijjim' will be aired on the 23rd. On the 27th, the 'Choi Hwa-jung Show' will sell 'Hanugo-bang Two-Ppoul Hanwoo'.

Lim Jeong-hyun, head of the Living Products Division at CJ ENM Commerce Division, said, "The home-cooked meal trend due to COVID-19 and the change in consumer patterns purchasing food non-face-to-face combined to produce good results in the general food category last year," adding, "This year, we plan to attract new customers by increasing differentiated premium products based on reasonable configurations and prices that can only be seen on home shopping."