Convenience Store Becomes 'Samgyeopsal Day' Mecca with Daily Sales of 100 Pigs' Worth of Pork Belly

Sales During Last Year's Event Period Soared 737.2% Compared to the Previous Year

As the trend of grocery shopping at convenience stores spreads, sales of refrigerated meat such as samgyeopsal have been rapidly increasing every year. The convenience store industry is set to launch a large-scale discount event next month to celebrate 'Samgyeopsal Day (March 3rd).'

CU, a convenience store operated by BGF Retail, announced on the 22nd that during the Samgyeopsal Day event period (March 1-3), the year-over-year sales growth rate of refrigerated meat showed a significant rise: only 9.7% in 2021, 47.9% in 2022, and an astonishing 737.2% last year. In March of last year, CU became the first in the industry to sell refrigerated meat such as samgyeopsal and pork neck nationwide at all stores. These products were extremely popular, selling over 20,000 units?equivalent to about 10 tons or 1,000 pigs?within just ten days.

Especially before CU expanded refrigerated meat sales nationwide, frozen meat accounted for more than 80% of total meat sales, but recently, the sales proportion of refrigerated meat has surged significantly. In fact, over the past five years, CU’s refrigerated meat sales share was only 0.9% in 2020, but increased noticeably to 12.8% in 2021, 18.2% in 2022, and 42.5% in 2023. This year (January to February), it reached 49.6%, approaching half of total meat sales. Additionally, last year’s year-over-year sales growth rate for refrigerated meat was 324.6%.

Until now, the convenience store industry had designated March 3rd as Triangle Kimbap Day and held related events, but recently, as convenience stores have rapidly emerged as nearby sources for purchasing fresh ingredients, they have shifted their focus to Samgyeopsal Day, which was traditionally led by large supermarkets, and are actively conducting marketing campaigns.

The Samgyeopsal Day products CU has prepared this year include six types of 500g small-pack products: the Korean pork line Hi-Pork samgyeopsal (13,900 KRW) and pork neck (12,300 KRW); the premium line Jeju samgyeopsal (23,900 KRW) and pork neck (20,900 KRW); and the value line Canadian barley-fed samgyeopsal (10,000 KRW) and pork neck (9,300 KRW).

Also, if customers pre-order refrigerated meat through CU’s own commerce app, Pocket CU, by the 28th of this month, they can receive a 33% discount coupon. The discount coupon can be issued on the Pocket CU event page and applied immediately upon purchase.

Yoon Seung-hwan, MD of the HMR team at BGF Retail, said, “As customers increasingly recognize that they can purchase various ingredients at convenience stores near their homes, sales of refrigerated meat continue to grow steadily. Going forward, CU will continue to expand its range of reliable and high-quality fresh foods to enrich customers’ dining tables.”