Kiyoung Appears at Lotte Mart... Nostalgic Black Rubber Shoes Products Gain Popularity

Promotional display of the 'Black Rubber Shoes' collaboration package products at Lotte Mart Seoul Station branch.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] Lotte Mart's collaboration products and content with the domestic animation Geomjeong Gomu-shin, launched this month, are attracting customers' attention and gaining great popularity. Geomjeong Gomu-shin is an animation set in the poor but happy 1960s-70s, depicting the fresh growth story of brothers Gi-yeong and Gi-cheol and the love within their family. It adopts familiar characters and emotionally rich themes that evoke warm smiles, emotions, and gentle nostalgia not only for children but also for adults who lived through that era.

Lotte Mart collaborated with Hyeongseol & Co., the licensee of Geomjeong Gomu-shin, to release various limited package products on August 4. Inspired by foods such as bananas, cream bread, dumplings, and jajangmyeon that characters in Geomjeong Gomu-shin enjoyed eating in the animation, they exclusively introduced about 20 collaboration package products. These products have received high customer interest, with sales increasing about twice compared to before the collaboration.

Among them, the ‘B750 Geomjeong Gomu-shin Banana (900g/Vietnam)’, planned based on the banana frequently eaten by the main character Gi-yeong, stands out. Within a week of release, the initial stock of 87,000 units was completely sold out. Sales of nostalgic food collaboration products ‘Sando’ and ‘Banana Milk’ also increased about 9 times and 5 times respectively compared to before the collaboration.

Accordingly, Lotte Mart offers an additional 10% discount for L.Point members who purchase Geomjeong Gomu-shin collaboration products worth 30,000 KRW or more using event cards until the 31st of this month. For purchases over 70,000 KRW, a limited quantity of cute ‘Geomjeong Gomu-shin BIG Vacation Bags’ will be given as gifts. Additionally, various displays and posters featuring Geomjeong Gomu-shin characters have been installed throughout the stores to enhance the visual experience.

Also, to celebrate the upcoming Chuseok holiday, from the 1st to the 12th of next month, Lotte Mart will hold a gratitude event for L.Point members on its exclusive application ‘Lotte Mart GO’ under the theme of meeting Geomjeong Gomu-shin again during Chuseok. Any L.Point member can participate by accessing the event page and sending gratitude message cards featuring popular Geomjeong Gomu-shin characters to acquaintances.

Seong Jeong-woo, the person in charge of the Commercial Planning Team at Lotte Mart, said, “We ask for much interest in the Geomjeong Gomu-shin Chuseok video to be released additionally,” and added, “We will continue to plan various collaborations to provide customers with enjoyable shopping experiences in the future.”