[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] Amid the rise of solo drinking and home drinking culture, where people "properly enjoy a drink at home even if it's just one glass" due to COVID-19, foot traffic seeking premium alcoholic beverages such as wines and whiskeys priced over 200,000 KRW has significantly increased at marts and convenience stores.
According to the industry on the 23rd, from June 1 to 17, sales of wines priced over 200,000 KRW at Lotte Mart grew by 290% compared to the previous year, and whiskey sales increased by 100%. In March, a set of five bottles of Roman?e-Conti worth 89 million KRW was sold, and last year, a 50-year-old Balvenie whiskey priced at 59 million KRW was sold. At Emart, sales of high-priced wines remained similar to the previous year, but whiskey sales increased by about 90%. Earlier this year, a Champagne Salon S set worth 28 million KRW was sold. At Homeplus, bottles of Ch?teau Latour 2012 priced over 1 million KRW were also sold.
The convenience store industry is also keeping pace with this trend. At CU, a wine set worth 5.5 million KRW was sold, and at GS25, wine sets in the 10 million KRW range were sold. Emart24 established a dedicated liquor specialty store. Sales of premium alcoholic beverages priced over 200,000 KRW also increased. From June 1 to 17, premium wine and whiskey sales on CU’s mobile application PocketCU grew by 231.6% and 384.7%, respectively, compared to the same period last year. Offline store sales of wine increased by 32.0%, and whiskey by 82.0%. GS25’s online platform Wine25Plus saw wine sales jump 218.6% and whiskey sales 405.1%, while offline sales of wine and whiskey rose by 135.1% and 187.9%, respectively. Emart24’s liquor specialty store, Emart24 Gangdong ECT branch, which opened last April, saw sales of high-priced wines in the 300,000 KRW range increase by 23% compared to the previous month.
According to the Korea Customs Service, whiskey import volume from January to July 2021, when social distancing was intensified due to COVID-19, decreased by 1.3% compared to the same period the previous year, but import value rose by 49%, indicating a significant increase in import unit price. The industry believes this phenomenon was driven by the trend of purchasing high-priced whiskeys with higher per-bottle prices.
An industry official said, “As solo and home drinkers practice ‘consumption for myself,’ consumer interest in premium alcoholic beverages has grown. The consumption trend of boasting and sharing differentiated experiences also seems to have influenced this.” He added, “Marts and convenience stores are targeting this demand by stocking high-priced alcoholic beverages.”
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