"SNS Buzz... Selling Out Fast" Cakes Marching Toward Sold-Out Status at Convenience Stores

Towel Cakes Sell Out at CU and GS25 in Succession
Convenience Stores Focus on Differentiated Products as Key Strategy

This time, it's towel cakes.

These unique products, which have gone viral on social networking services (SNS), are heating up the convenience store industry. These products, which captivate consumers with distinctive ingredients and appearances such as Dubai chocolate, have been in short supply since their launch, thawing frozen consumer sentiment. Such mega-hit products are considered a secret weapon for the convenience store industry, which is facing growth slowdown due to population decline and market saturation, to open consumers' wallets.

According to the distribution industry on the 18th, CU, a convenience store operated by BGF Retail, launched two types of towel cakes (fresh cream and chocolate) under its private brand (PB) 'Bakehouse 405' on the 16th of this month.

The towel cakes were available for pre-order on CU's own app for four days starting from the 2nd, and all 4,500 prepared units were sold out. During the pre-sale period, demand to purchase the product surged, and the word 'towel' ranked first in real-time popular search terms on the app 'Pocket CU'.

CU launches two types of towel cakes for the first time. Photo by BGF Retail

GS25, a convenience store operated by GS Retail, also started selling two types of towel cakes (classic and chocolate) from the 16th of this month. GS25 conducted a pre-sale through its own app 'Our Neighborhood GS' on the 6th, ahead of the official launch, and all 4,000 prepared units were sold out on the same day. On the first day of offline release, the initial order quantity for the towel cake (classic) was recorded to be more than 90% higher than the average initial order quantity in the refrigerated dessert category.

The towel cake is a product derived from the Chinese dessert Maojinjuan (毛巾卷), named for its appearance resembling a rolled-up towel. It is made by rolling cream inside a thin crepe, characterized by its soft and moist texture. Since last year, it has gained popularity recently as tasting review videos on social networking services (SNS) have become popular.

The popularity of such SNS items has had a significant impact on convenience store management strategies. CU presented six keywords for the convenience store industry this year, highlighting 'mega-hit (product and service differentiation)'. The goal is to create new demand and expand the existing customer base through mega-hit products and services, which are considered core competencies.

In fact, Dubai chocolate, which was one of last year's popular convenience store items, sold about 20 billion KRW worth of products at CU throughout the year. At GS25, more than 550,000 units of Dubai chocolate were sold last year, and the spin-off product using Dubai chocolate, Dubai Kadaif Choco Bar ice cream, recorded sales of over 1.2 million units.

As demand to obtain popular SNS items surges, brand promotion effects are also substantial. When Dubai chocolate gained popularity last year, customers searched related keywords on convenience stores' own apps to find stock, placing these keywords among the popular search terms for a while. When CU exclusively launched the chestnut tiramisu cup featured on a famous cooking competition program, it was difficult to find stock initially, and tasting review videos were continuously uploaded on SNS and video platforms.

There are also cases where unique items have overturned the rankings of existing popular products. CU's analysis of sales data from foreign tourist customers last year showed that Dubai chocolate ranked first. This is unusual as it is the first time a unique item released domestically last year took the top spot, considering that the traditionally most popular product among foreigners is banana-flavored milk. Banana-flavored milk ranked second after Dubai chocolate.

Such differentiated product launches in the convenience store industry are expected to continue this year as well. A GS25 official said, "Recently, the expression 'SNS seasonal food' has emerged, as the foods trending on SNS change every season, and the cycle of these trends is becoming as short as seasonal foods," adding, "We will strengthen dessert competitiveness by not only launching products quickly to match the shortening dessert trend cycle but also faithfully reproducing the local dessert taste and quality."