"Instead of Tanghulu, Eat 'This'... Middle and High School Students' Debit Card Spending Revealed"

Check Card Spending by Teenagers Rises 22% in Five Years
Convenience Stores Most Popular; Yogurt Specialty Store Usage Surges

The amount spent using check cards by middle and high school students has increased by about 22% over the past five years. The most frequently used business type was convenience stores, and among desserts, the use of yogurt specialty stores increased significantly instead of Tanghulu..

According to the analysis of payment data from 710,000 check card users aged 14 to 19 between 2019 and 2024, announced by KB Kookmin Card on the 16th, the total number of transactions across all business types was 260 million. The average monthly check card spending by middle and high school students rose from 121,600 KRW in 2019 to 147,900 KRW in 2024, an increase of 21.6%. The number of transactions also increased by 12.8%, from 16.4 to 18.5 during the same period.

Yogurt ice cream. Screenshot from Yoajung Instagram

The business type most frequently used by middle and high school students was convenience stores. The proportion of convenience store transactions was 25%, about 6 percentage points higher than the 19% usage rate among adults. Among middle and high school check card users, 41% used convenience stores more than five times per month, and 17% used them more than ten times per month.

Looking at the preferred food-related business types (restaurants, coffee, and desserts) by transaction count, the order was coffee (28%), dessert specialty stores (19%), fast food (14%), foreign cuisine (14%), and Korean food (11%).

Notably, there was a clear difference in the dessert sector between 2023 and 2024. Tanghulu, which showed the highest growth rate in 2023, saw its usage share decrease by 75% in 2024 compared to the previous year. Yogurt specialty stores replaced Tanghulu’s position. The spending at yogurt specialty stores increased by 317% in 2024 compared to 2023, and the number of transactions rose by 177%, marking the highest growth rate among dessert businesses. However, the spending share of yogurt specialty stores among all dessert specialty stores was only 1.0%.

The most popular entertainment service business type among middle and high school students was PC bangs, accounting for 55% of transactions within entertainment services. This was followed by coin karaoke rooms (16%) and unmanned photo booths (6%).