High Inflation Changes Trends... Convenience Stores See Popularity of Large-Size Daily Necessities

Detergent Over 1L Sells Well
Clear Preference for Cost-Effective PB Products
Continuous Expansion of Household Goods Products

Recently, as high inflation continues, large-capacity daily necessities rather than small-capacity ones have become very popular at convenience stores. Each company is launching cost-effective (price-performance) products to target the demand for convenience store shopping.

According to CU on the 10th, when looking at the year-on-year sales growth rate of major daily necessities from January 1 to March 6 this year, sanitary products increased by 27.5%, shampoo and rinse by 26.3%, soap and body wash by 16.3%, toothpaste and toothbrushes by 12.2%, and tissues by 11.3%. In particular, for detergents, the sales growth rate of large-capacity products over 1L, which have a lower unit price, was more than 15 percentage points higher than that of products under 1L. A preference for relatively inexpensive private brand (PB) products was also observed. CU's Deuktem series ranked among the top in sales in each category and surpassed 10 million cumulative sales last month.

At GS25, body care products grew by 61.1%, sanitary products by 41.7%, toothpaste by 29.7%, and kitchen detergents by 25.6%. The sales composition ratio of detergents and shampoo/rinse products over 1L to those under 1L was 6 to 4, with large-capacity products selling better. GS25 operates four Real Price products including sanitary gloves, sanitary packs, roll bags, and kitchen towels. Real Price is an ultra-low-price brand launched by GS The Fresh since 2017, actively discovering small and medium-sized enterprises with excellent product quality but facing difficulties in market access, selling products at about 70-80% of the price of regular products.

Customers are purchasing large-capacity detergent at CU.
[Photo by BGF Retail].

At 7-Eleven, laundry detergent sales increased by 40%, shampoo by 35%, sanitary products, box tissues, toothpaste, and roll tissues by 30%, toothbrushes by 20%, and wet tissues by 15%. The sales growth rate of detergents and shampoo over 1L was 10% higher than those under 1L. 7-Eleven offers a series of reasonably priced daily necessities such as KF-AD masks, natural pulp roll tissues, moisturizing beauty tissues, and wet tissues through its ultra-low-price brand Goodmin. In each category, masks ranked 3rd, roll tissues 1st, box tissues 2nd, and wet tissues 5th. 7-Eleven plans to continuously expand its daily necessities product lineup in line with the demand for convenience store shopping.

At Emart24, sales of large-capacity daily necessities surged by 46%. By product, items that are less burdensome in terms of expiration dates and easy to store for a long time showed remarkable growth. Representative examples include large-capacity detergents (57%), toilet paper (45%), and toothpaste (43%), with high sales growth rates in hygiene and household products. Food items such as stick coffee packs of over 100 units (37%) and large-capacity snacks (29%) also recorded double-digit growth rates.

An official from the convenience store industry said, “As more customers shop for groceries at convenience stores, demand for essential daily necessities is increasing,” adding, “We plan to expand the ultra-low-price product lineup and discover cost-effective PB products to enhance customer benefits.”