In the Year of the Rabbit, the Distribution Industry Sees a 'Tokki' Boom

Food and Beverage, Beauty, Apparel, Alcohol Industries Overall
Character Merchandise, Limited Edition Designs... Even Gold Bars

Sulwhasoo's First Care Activating Serum Year of the Rabbit Limited Edition. Photo by Amorepacific

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] Ahead of the Year of the Black Rabbit in 2023, the entire distribution industry, from food and beverages to beauty and fashion, is prominently featuring ‘rabbit’ character products. The popularity of rabbit items as New Year gifts, combined with the recent trend of a ‘character boom’ among the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z), has resulted in a complex reflection of high demand for character products.

According to the distribution industry on the 26th, Amorepacific’s Sulwhasoo recently introduced the ‘Yoonjo Essence Year of the Rabbit Limited Edition,’ featuring a pair of rabbits symbolizing abundance and prosperity. The product incorporates motifs from the Korean folk painting ‘Baeknapdo,’ a prototype of Korean beauty. Traditionally, Baeknapdo carries various meanings of good fortune, wishing for longevity and blessings. The design conveys a message of wishing for a prosperous and hopeful new year through a pair of rabbits visiting plum blossoms blooming more clearly in the snow.

Etude launched a limited edition ‘RABBIT NEW YEAR! COOKY ON TOP’ New Year collection in collaboration with BT21, a globally popular character from IPX (formerly Line Friends). The New Year collection features designs of BT21 characters dressed in cute rabbit costumes to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit 2023. The collection includes ‘Fixing Tint,’ ‘Play Color Eyes,’ ‘Soonjung Mild Acidic 5.5 Soothing Toner,’ and ‘Soonjung Moisture Barrier Cream.’

Ediya Coffee recently introduced a diary set featuring Cha In-cheol's "inch_inch_inch" illustration themed around "rabbit." Photo by Ediya Coffee

Ediya Coffee released a diary set featuring illustrator Cha Incheol’s ‘inch_inch_inch’ illustration themed around ‘rabbit’ for the 2023 Year of the Black Rabbit on the 22nd. Beer company BeerK, which imports and distributes Tsingtao beer, is selling a limited edition ‘Tsingtao 2023 Gye-monyeon Bokmaek Edition’ featuring a confident and charismatic Bok Rabbit character on the product’s exterior to commemorate the Year of the Rabbit. The set includes Tsingtao aluminum bottles (472ml, 2-pack) and Tsingtao mini glasses (180ml, 2-pack). Notably, the drawing of the Bok Rabbit character involved Shin Dongyeop, a broadcaster and comedian who is also Tsingtao’s model, attracting consumer interest.

CU's recently introduced rabbit character lunchbox. Photo by CU

Convenience store CU partnered with the famous rabbit character ‘Miffy’ to launch and sell 10 food items including Miffy-shaped lunch boxes, carrot sandwiches, and carrot cakes, along with 13 winter clothing items such as modal knit earmuffs, cold-weather gloves, smartphone touch gloves, sleep pants, and padded vests. GS25 targeted finance-savvy consumers preferring safe assets by introducing gold bars and coins featuring rabbit designs. They offer four types of Golden Rabbit Gold Bars ranging from approximately 760,000 KRW (7.5g, 2 don) to 3,710,000 KRW (37.5g, 10 don), as well as three types of Golden Rabbit Coins.

F&F’s street casual brand MLB launched the ‘New Year Rabbit Collection’ for the Year of the Black Rabbit. The collection includes hoodies, sweatshirts, short-sleeve T-shirts, baseball caps, and bucket hats. Samsung C&T Fashion Division’s Beanpole Kids released a series of products inspired by their signature rabbit character ‘Bingki.’ The series features ‘Spangle Bingki’ with sparkling materials and aurora-colored sequin designs, ‘Lovely Bingki’ designed with Bingki and typography on the front pocket of backpacks with aurora color accents, ‘Aurora Bingki’ with a rainbow color pattern and a flashy front backpack pocket, and ‘Cotton Candy Bingki’ expressing the Milky Way with sparkling materials inside a transparent lower pocket in cotton candy colors.

An industry insider said, “Not only convenience stores, where new products change rapidly, but also the fashion industry, which carries relatively high inventory burdens, are focusing their marketing on rabbit characters due to the recent popularity of character products. Cute and charming rabbit characters, the representative figure of next year, are expected to appear in various forms going forward.”