Emart, Toy Sales Triple
Holiday Months Become Peak Season for Toys
Moves to Capture Post-Lunar New Year Demand
Housewife Lee Sori (38) visited a large supermarket last weekend with her child to buy toys. It was to buy the Pororo toy her child wanted with the New Year's money received during Seollal. Lee said, "My child kept singing that uncle told him to buy toys, so we came out," adding, "It seems like the number of toys increases every holiday."
Children who received generous New Year's money during this Seollal holiday are emerging as major buyers in the toy market. Recently, aside from Children's Day and Christmas, months including holidays have become peak seasons for toy sales.
According to Emart on the 30th, toy sales from the 23rd to the 26th of this month increased by 205% compared to the previous year. During the same period, Lotte Mart saw a 150% increase in toy sales, and Homeplus experienced a 275% rise. This is analyzed to be due to the significant increase in toy demand from children who received pocket money after Seollal.
In fact, according to Lotte Mart, monthly toy sales last year were highest in February and September, which include Seollal and Chuseok, except for May and December which include Children's Day and Christmas. Toy sales in those months showed about 25% higher performance compared to average months.
Customers are purchasing toys at the Toys "R" Us store in Lotte Mart Max Changwon Jungang Branch. [Photo by Lotte Mart].
Large supermarkets have started efforts to capture post-Seollal toy demand. Emart is offering 10-50% discounts on popular toys such as Lego, Catch the Night, Pok?mon Changing Figures, Power Rangers Donbrothers, and Hello Carbot until the 1st of next month. Lotte Mart is holding a Happy Toys "R" Us Day event where over 1,900 toy items including Nintendo Switch, Sylvanian Families, Nerf, and Jurassic World are available at up to 50% discounted prices.
Homeplus is conducting a 'Seollal Toy Sale' with discounts up to 70% on toys. This event features limited quantities of special planned toys such as Pororo Music Mat and Majorette Lamborghini. Over 110 types of Lego are sold at up to 40% off, and new products like Avatar, Ninjago, City, and Friends are also introduced.
Toy sales have also noticeably increased on online malls. On Gmarket, sales increased in categories such as newborn and infant toys (180%), language learning toys (105%), wooden educational toys and GABE (47%), dolls (40%), mechanical toys (28%), and block toys (26%).
An official from the distribution industry said, "Toy demand significantly increases in months with holiday breaks such as Seollal and Chuseok," adding, "We hope this opportunity to offer steady sellers and popular products with the best benefits of the year will allow customers to purchase toys at reasonable prices."
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