[Collaboration Era] The Secret to Hit Products... "They Sell Because They're Fun"

Trendy Convenience Store New Product Battleground
Novelty for Young Generation, Nostalgia for Older Generation
Unique Collaboration Areas and Items Expand Further

‘Gompyo Flour & Beer’, ‘MapleStory & Bread’, ‘Baedal Minjok & Beer’, ‘Black Desert & Triangle Kimbap’. Unique collaborations have become a formula for blockbuster product success, ushering in a golden age. The key point is to provide taste and enjoyment targeting fun consumers (Fun+Consumer) who seek fun beyond simple consumption. Now, collaborations beyond the same industry, seemingly unrelated fields at first glance, have become the trend.

Gompyo Wheat Beer (from the left), MapleStory Bread, Kya Beer, Grilled Steak Burger.

◆Unique Collaboration Food Items ‘Popular’= According to the industry on the 20th, convenience stores, the distribution channel most sensitive to trends, have become a battleground for unique collaboration products. Especially for collaboration products, brands familiar to the older generation or with a long history tend to generate more buzz. This is because they offer a novel experience to the younger generation and nostalgia to the older generation.

The pioneering product of unique collaborations was ‘Gompyo Mil Beer’. Gompyo Mil Beer was launched by CU in 2020 in partnership with Daehan Flour Milling and SevenBrew. As it featured the flour brand Gompyo, the focus was on creating smooth foam and a savory aroma. Due to its high popularity at the time, Gompyo Mil Beer was called a sold-out item among consumers because supply was limited by production facility constraints. The cumulative sales volume is about 34 million units, and even after two years since its launch, it still ranks second in beer sales after Cass.

Last year’s biggest hit was the ‘Yonsei Milk Cream Bread Series’, which sold 20 million units in one year. This product was launched by CU in collaboration with Yonsei Milk, filling about 80% of the total weight with cream, successfully differentiating it from existing products. Without any separate marketing, customers who purchased the product shared half-cut photos (photos showing the inside by cutting the product in half) on social networking services (SNS), causing a shortage. As a result, CU’s dessert sales last year increased by 120.6% compared to the previous year.

GS25 launched ‘MapleStory Bread’ in June last year, achieving cumulative sales of 12 million units. MapleStory is an online game officially launched by Nexon in 2003. The bread was made using characters of five popular monsters from the game and included 80 types of character stickers targeting users and fans. In October of the same year, GS25 collaborated with Maeil Dairies to release ‘Fresh Cream Donuts’ filled with plenty of fresh cream inside. The initial stock sold out within three days of launch, gaining great popularity with over 1.5 million units sold. The donut bread was made without purified water, using only eggs and processed butter to maintain a chewy texture, and refrigerated distribution allowed the original taste to be preserved for 3 to 4 days during the shelf life.

Seven Eleven launched the handcrafted beer ‘Kya Beer’ in July 2021 in collaboration with Baedal Minjok. The name visualizes the everyday exclamation ‘Ka’ shouted when taking the first refreshing sip of beer, using Baedal Minjok’s font (Hanna font). The product features Baedal Minjok’s unique witty phrases and simple design. The initial 250,000 units sold out within two weeks after launch, and it became the top-selling handcrafted beer, gaining huge popularity. Emart24 sold food products in collaboration with the MMORPG Black Desert from June to July last year. The lineup included Black Pepper Chicken, Spicy Chicken Mayo Triangle Kimbap, Black Pepper Chicken Shrimp Gangjeong, Grilled Steak Burger, and four other items, all ranking first in their respective categories.

◆Expansion into Metaverse and Daily Goods= Unique collaborations are expanding beyond offline stores and food items into broader areas and categories. CU conducted collaborative marketing last year on the metaverse platform Zepeto with Binggrae and CJ CheilJedang. The Zepeto convenience store served as a playground for Generation Z, marking a case where brand collaborations continued in virtual reality. Since CU launched its store on Zepeto, the number of users visiting the map reached 25 million, and posts, views, likes, and comments on the feed totaled 10 million.

GS25 introduced Sanrio hand warmers targeting the MZ generation, the main customer base of convenience stores, in October last year. My Melody Kuromi hand warmers and Cinnamoroll hand warmers became very popular among children and students, with parents often buying hand warmers by the box. Since their launch, the two Sanrio hand warmers have sold over 2 million units and maintain the first and second positions in the hand warmer category.

An industry insider from the convenience store sector said, "Interest in fun products reflecting cultural codes that appeal to both the MZ generation and older generations is growing, creating a virtuous cycle of increased sales. We will continue to strive to create differentiated products by partnering with trendy content and brands."