Eco-friendly Trend Dominates This Year's Holiday Gift Sets
Practical 'Value for Money' Gifts Also in Spotlight
Value-driven Consumption Trend Reflected in Gift Sets
In the past, holiday gift sets were considered more valuable the more luxurious and grand they were. However, this is changing. As the trend of value-driven consumption spreads, the image of gift sets, once characterized by extravagant packaging, is transforming into one that is eco-friendly and practical. Amid ongoing high inflation and high interest rates, more consumers are seeking value even in the process of purchasing gift sets.
According to industry sources on the 16th, recently, the distribution sector has been releasing gift sets that reduce unnecessary packaging or use eco-friendly packaging materials. The industry has established the release of gift sets with reduced plastic usage as a trend. While only some companies selectively applied this a few years ago, it has now become a necessity rather than an option. This shift is influenced by the widespread value consumption practiced by the MZ (Millennial + Generation Z) generation, who express their personal beliefs through consumption, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.
CJ CheilJedang recently launched about 300 gift sets that align with the trends of cost-effectiveness, 'eco-friendliness,' and 'wellness.' Following last Chuseok, they introduced the 'Save Earth Choice' gift set brand, along with Spam label-free gift sets that eliminated vinyl labels and the ‘CJ Myeongga Gim Gift Set’ that does not use plastic trays. All gift sets minimized plastic use by removing the plastic caps from Spam cans.
Dongwon F&B also introduced the eco-friendly material ‘Paper Press’ in gift sets for the first time this year. Additionally, since Chuseok 2020, they have replaced plastic bases and non-woven fabric bags with paper in their ‘All Paper Package’ gift sets, and plan to expand the volume by more than tenfold compared to last Chuseok. Daesang also launched ‘Natural Gift Sets’ this year, replacing all gift set shopping bags with paper and switching the internal bases of premium palm oil gift sets and other premium oil gift sets from plastic to paper. They even applied eco-friendly methods to the ink and coating used in packaging.
This eco-friendly gift set trend is not limited to the food industry. Ayoung FBC recently launched the ‘All Paper Box,’ which combines gift sets and delivery boxes, marking a first in the wine industry. Due to the risk of breakage, it has been rare to apply all-paper boxes to alcoholic beverages like wine, but after multiple tests, Ayoung FBC introduced eco-friendly packaging that poses no risk of breakage and is easy to separate for disposal and storage.
The trend in gift purchasing is also shifting toward practicality. According to data analyzed by TMON from customers’ Lunar New Year gift purchases between the 1st and 13th of this month, ultra-budget products priced under 30,000 KRW accounted for 60% of total sales. This represents a 10 percentage point increase compared to last Lunar New Year. Expanding the range to under 50,000 KRW raises the share to 76%. Conversely, the share of gift sets priced over 100,000 KRW decreased by 5 percentage points to 9%.
Last Lunar New Year, premium gifts such as Jeonggwanjang and LA-style flower ribs, representing high-end meat and red ginseng, were popular. However, this year, top purchased items included Aekyung premium gift sets (around 20,000 KRW) and CJ CheilJedang Spam sets (around 20,000 KRW). In fact, CJ CheilJedang increased products priced between 10,000 and 20,000 KRW by about 10% to meet the preferences of consumers favoring this price range for this Lunar New Year.
An industry insider said, "This Lunar New Year’s gift sets show a polarization between premium products and cost-effective products, similar to last Chuseok. Especially, while extravagant packaging was preferred in the past, now many customers pay close attention to whether eco-friendly materials are used."
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