Yakult with Spring Minari... GS25 Targets "Wellness Trend"

First New Product Developed Using Vegetables
Offline Sale of 'Lee Gyun Chamoe Minariju' Begins on the 23rd

GS Retail's convenience store GS25 announced on the 19th that it will launch a new concept Yakult using the spring seasonal ingredient 'Minari' (water dropwort). The company aims to capture the spring season trend by continuously introducing alcoholic beverages made with vegetables.

A model is posing holding Lee Gyun Chamoe Minariju and Yours Yakult Grand Minari. Provided by GS Retail.

On the 20th, GS25 will release a new lineup of its steady-selling PB series, 'Yours Yakult Grand Minari.' The unique fragrance and refreshing taste of fresh Minari harmonize with the original flavor of Yakult, making it perfect for stimulating the appetite in spring. The price is 1,700 KRW.

Yours Yakult Grand is a 280ml large-capacity fermented milk series exclusively launched by GS25 in partnership with hy in 2015. As of March, the cumulative sales volume of the Yours Yakult Grand series has surpassed 150 million bottles. The growth of the wellness trend and the fermented milk market is analyzed to have driven the increase in product sales.

This new product is the first in the series to use seasonal vegetables. Considering the recent spread of the 'funsumer' trend, where consumers enjoy consumption itself as content and seek new experiences, this unique combination was planned. Funsumers tend to have high purchasing power and share their product experiences on social networking services (SNS) when they find products interesting, which is expected to draw attention to the product.

On the 23rd, the third offline sale of 'Lee Gyun Chamoe Minariju' will begin. Lee Gyun Chamoe Minariju is an alcoholic beverage officially commercialized after receiving favorable reviews from Chef Edward Lee on the globally popular cooking survival entertainment program 'Black and White Chef: Cooking Class War' at the end of last year.

It is brewed with 100% domestic rice, sweet chamoe (Korean melon), and fragrant Minari, using only rice for sweetness without artificial sweeteners to preserve the original flavor of the ingredients. The alcohol content is 6%, and the price is 5,500 KRW.

Following the announcement of the collaboration with Chef Edward Lee, approximately 64,000 bottles prepared during two rounds of pre-orders on the Our Neighborhood GS application and two offline sales periods were sold out instantly.

Um Yoo-hyun, MD of the Beverage Food Team at GS Retail, said, “To welcome spring, we launched Yakult and alcoholic beverages using spring seasonal Minari to provide customers with a unique experience. As funsumers who enjoy consumption as content have increasing purchasing power, GS25 will continue to strengthen related product development and marketing.”