Convenience Stores Sell Holiday Lunchboxes for Seollal... "Targeting Single-Person Households"

CU, 13.4% Increase in Holiday Sales Last Year
Various Convenient Meals to Be Released This Year as Well

Convenience stores are once again targeting single-person households by launching holiday lunchboxes for the Lunar New Year this year.

According to CU on the 22nd, the year-on-year sales growth rate of lunchboxes during the holiday season has steadily increased over the past three years, with 12.6% in 2020, 15% in 2021, and 13.4% in 2022. In particular, looking at last year's Chuseok sales data, sales were high in areas with a high proportion of single-person households such as university districts, office districts, and officetel locations. At GS25, sales of Lunar New Year and Chuseok lunchboxes increased by 17.2% and 25.8% respectively compared to the previous year, while Seven Eleven saw increases of 70% and 50%. At Emart24, Lunar New Year lunchbox sales rose by 25% in 2020, 9% in 2021, and 32% in 2022.

Models at CU are introducing the Sobulgogi Tteokguk Hansang Dosirak and Real Tonggogi Tteokguk.
[Photo by BGF Retail]

CU introduced the Beef Bulgogi Tteokguk Set Lunchbox and Real Whole Meat Tteokguk for this Lunar New Year. The lunchbox contains tteokguk made with beef bone broth, along with traditional holiday dishes such as beef bulgogi, japchae, jeon (Korean pancakes), and namul (seasoned vegetables). The tteokguk uses pork bone sauce for the broth and is topped with whole pieces of pork to enhance flavor and texture. GS25’s Five-Color Hanjeongsik Lunchbox includes traditional holiday dishes such as tteok mandu guk (rice cake and dumpling soup), black rice, neobiani (marinated grilled beef), omisanjeok (five-flavored skewers), meat patties, and namul. Emart24 offers a tteok mandu guk lunchbox with rich beef bone broth flavor, as well as a Lunar New Year feast lunchbox containing assorted jeon, beef bulgogi, japchae, and three-colored namul.

Discount events are also being held to help customers enjoy a bountiful Lunar New Year holiday. CU offers a 30% discount on five popular lunchboxes?including Baek Jong-won’s Double Meat Set, Heaps of Fresh Rice Set, and Spicy Tofu Stew Set?when paid with event cards from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. this month. Seven Eleven runs a 30% on-the-spot discount event on the top three lunchboxes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays when purchased with event cards, and Emart24 provides a 50% discount when purchasing two or more of the four meal kits of the month.

A convenience store industry official said, “We created hearty meals with various holiday foods so that single-person household customers can easily and conveniently enjoy the festive atmosphere at convenience stores. We will continue to introduce attractive products and services to meet the diverse needs of customers during the Lunar New Year holiday.”