New Product Launch Improves Cleaning Convenience
Sales Surge Mainly on Overseas Official Malls
Hurom Achieves Highest Revenue in 7 Years Last Year
[Asia Economy Reporter Kwak Min-jae] As interest in ‘home cooking’ and ‘health’ rises, the whole juice extractor market is experiencing a second heyday. With the release of new products that improve the inconveniences of existing juice extractors and increased overseas sales, the popularity of ‘K-Juice Extractors’ is growing in foreign markets.
Reduced Inconvenience in Ingredient Preparation and Easier Cleaning
According to Hurom on the 3rd, last year’s sales reached 130 billion KRW, achieving the highest performance in seven years. This was about a 10% increase compared to the previous year. The domestic juice extractor market peaked in 2015 and had been on a continuous decline. Although juice extractors attracted attention for being products that press fruits or vegetables without destroying nutrients, they lost market share to blenders due to the inconvenience of ingredient preparation before use and cleaning after use. Hurom, the industry leader, saw its sales peak at 230.8 billion KRW in 2015 but then sharply declined to 71.3 billion KRW in 2019.
However, with the launch of new products in 2020, Hurom began to rebound by recovering sales to 100 billion KRW. By releasing products with wide feeding chutes and automatic cutting functions that allow whole apples, pears, carrots, etc., to be inserted, the effort required for ingredient preparation was reduced, and the products were improved for easier disassembly and cleaning after use.
Kitchen appliance company NUC Electronics also saw continuous sales declines since 2015 but has improved performance since 2020. A NUC Electronics representative said, "Sales increased centered on new products that simplify the preparation process before juicing by allowing whole vegetables or fruits to be inserted," adding, "Last year’s sales also increased by about 30 to 40%."
Expansion of Overseas Direct Online Stores... Lower Fees Increase Price Competitiveness
The expansion of direct online stores through overseas subsidiaries has also been a catalyst for the revival of the juice extractor market. Previously, overseas offline retailers as well as open markets like Amazon had relatively high fees. However, related industry sources explained that price competitiveness has increased thanks to lower fees through overseas direct online stores.
Hurom explained that last year, overseas sales growth rates reached 88% in Japan, 54% in the U.S., 25% in Europe, and 25% in Asia compared to the previous year, showing significant growth. A Hurom representative said, "Operating overseas direct online stores directly during the COVID-19 situation increased overseas expansion and lowered fees, leading to increased sales."
NUC Electronics also stated that it is targeting overseas direct online stores with its own brand ‘Cuvings.’ A NUC representative said, "With aggressive overseas market expansion, we have dealerships in 85 countries, and the export-to-domestic sales ratio has reached 9 to 1," adding, "For the past two years, we have been expanding direct online stores centered on dealerships in each country and unifying online store templates, and this has been beneficial as the online market grew during the COVID-19 pandemic."
Hurom released a compact juice extractor last month considering the residential environment in Japan, and this month will launch a new two-in-one product combining a juice extractor and blender targeting the North American market. A Hurom representative said, "As time spent at home increased due to COVID-19, interest in Korean juice extractors has grown along with the ‘home cooking’ trend," adding, "We are targeting new products suited to overseas residential environments and expect sales of 150 billion KRW this year."
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