Convenience Store Industry Sees Flood of Collaboration Products Ahead of 'White Day'

CU: Character Products Featuring Reshi & Friends, Dinotang, and More
GS25: Idol Group Collaborations with NMIXX and Zerobaseone
Seven Eleven: Collaboration Products with Kiki Quokka and Mimiminu
Emart24: Everland Season Pass Gift for Prize Winners

Domestic convenience store companies are launching various collaboration products with characters, idol groups, and more to celebrate White Day on the 14th. As White Day is one of the three major events in the convenience store industry (Pepero Day, Valentine's Day, and White Day), they are targeting consumers with a variety of unique products.

According to the convenience store industry on the 4th, CU, operated by BGF Retail, will introduce products featuring cute animal characters such as Reshi & Friends, Dinotang, and Rilakkuma under the title "Sweet and Cute Charging Station." The representative products include eight planned items in collaboration with "Reshi & Friends," a character based on the lesser panda living in Everland. The CU Everland store decorates the interior and exterior with Reshi & Friends images and operates a White Day special product pop-up zone until the 14th. Additionally, five products in collaboration with "Dinotang," which features a quokka as the main character and tells stories of friends and family, beloved by the MZ generation, will be launched. They will also release seven planned products in collaboration with "Rilakkuma," the star of last year's Pepero Day and this year's Valentine's Day sold-out frenzy.

A model is posing with collaboration planned products such as 'Reshi & Friends' at CU's 'Sweet and Cute Charging Station' White Day event zone. (Photo by BGF Retail)

GS25, operated by GS Retail, is releasing collaboration products with idol groups to target the 10s and 20s age groups. According to GS25, White Day is the event among the three major convenience store events with the highest sales proportion from the 10s and 20s age groups. Analyzing the sales proportion of the 1020 generation during each of the three major events last year, White Day accounted for 34.6%, Pepero Day 31.0%, and Valentine's Day 29.4%. The overlap of the new school semester in March and the spring outing season makes White Day the event that attracts the most attention from the 10s and 20s. Reflecting this trend, GS25 will launch about 200 set products, including popular idol intellectual property (IP) collaboration products such as NMIXX goods sets and ZEROBASEONE goods sets, as well as character IP collaboration products like Haribo sets, Moomoo-ssi sets, and Jujutsu Kaisen sets.

A model is posing with the Zero Base One goods set and NMIXX goods set at the GS25 White Day event zone. (Photo by GS Retail)

Seven Eleven will introduce about 100 products featuring this year's consumer trends of "Aboha" and "Muhaeryeok." "Aboha" is a newly coined term meaning "a very ordinary day," expressing gratitude for getting through the day safely and hoping tomorrow will be like today. As more people seek the small joys of daily life amid unstable domestic and international conditions such as high inflation and exchange rates, products imbued with emotional keywords like luck, love, and gratitude are being released.

Seven Eleven adds "Muhaeryeok" (meaning the power given by harmless existence, a trend favoring small, pure, and cute subjects) as a core exclusive White Day product and launches the Kiki Quokka collaboration series, consisting of 12 items. To welcome the new semester, they also newly introduce the Mimiminu sticker set aimed at students. The Mimiminu sticker set can be used for decorating diaries, study planners, tumblers, and more, along with snacks, timed for the March school opening season.

A model is posing with 'Kiki Quokka Collaboration Series' goods at the Seven Eleven White Day event zone. (Photo by Seven Eleven)

Emart24 is offering discounts on all jelly products and holding a prize event. When purchasing jelly products with event cards (Hana Card, Kakao Pay Money), discounts are provided based on the purchase amount. Discounts of 20%, 30%, and 40% are applied when purchasing jelly products worth 5,000 won, 10,000 won, and 20,000 won or more, respectively. For 11 types of Chupa Chups jelly and candy products, a buy 1 get 1 free or buy 2 get 1 free promotion is held, and a prize event is conducted for 26 types of Chupa Chups and Mentos products. Customers can participate in the prize event by scanning the app's integrated barcode after purchasing Chupa Chups and Mentos products and pressing the apply button. Through a draw, 80 winners will receive an "Everland 1-year season pass" as a gift.