Resale Frenzy on Secondhand Apps Sours Success of "Snack Pick-and-Mix"
Searches Explode for Popular Items Like Matdongsan and Honey Butter Chip
"Not About Scarce Products or Competition; No Date Set for Resuming Event"
The Emart "Unlimited Snack Pick-and-Fill" promotion, which ran for a week starting on January 29, has, in an unexpected twist, stirred up the secondhand marketplace and drawn public attention. It was designed as a deep-discount event for fun, but as a large volume of products from the promotion flowed into secondhand platforms, trading suddenly heated up as if people were chasing short-term arbitrage gains.
According to the secondhand trading industry on the 5th, searches for snacks included in the promotion surged in a short period on major secondhand trading applications before and after the Emart event. On Danggeun Market, searches for Matdongsan, one of the most popular items in this promotion, skyrocketed by 94,779% compared with the previous week. Osatsu (6,500%) and Honey Butter Chip (1,849%) also recorded four-digit growth rates. These figures compare search volumes from before the event (January 22 to 28) with those during the promotion period (January 29 to February 4).
In effect, secondhand trading apps have been used almost like a "reseller market." A Danggeun Market representative said, "In the case of Matdongsan, there normally are not many searches, but the Emart promotion appears to have greatly expanded the search volume." On Junggonara as well, searches for related items jumped by more than 800% before and after the promotion.
This phenomenon originated from the "Unlimited Snack Pick-and-Fill" promotion, one of the programs under Emart's large-scale discount event "Goraeit Festa," which ended on February 4. For just 25,000 won, customers could fill a designated box with unlimited quantities of 10 popular Haitai Confectionery snack varieties and purchase them. The prepared quantity was reportedly around 3 million bags.
During the promotion, social networking services were abuzz with photos and videos of buyers stacking snacks like a tower in so-called "snack Tetris." Tips on how to stack more snacks were actively shared, and some reviews even claimed they managed to fit close to 200 bags. As more people flocked to the event than expected, some stores ran out of their prepared stock earlier than planned. Emart extended the promotion, originally scheduled to end on February 1, by three days to February 4. The event achieved 150% of its sales target and recorded a 34% increase compared with the previous year.
An Instagram post verifying the successful feat of fitting 181 snack items into a shopping basket at Emart, and a Danggeun listing for secondhand Matdongsan. Instagram, Danggeun
Amid this, posts offering bundles of dozens of bags of snacks from the promotion for sale on secondhand apps began to appear one after another, becoming a topic of conversation but also sparking controversy. Many critical comments stood out, such as "It has turned into a stockpiling playground for some resellers" and "Their excessive behavior is distasteful."
An Emart representative said, "We planned this to provide an enjoyable experience at offline stores and to attract customers who are accustomed to shopping online," adding, "It is neither a promotion for scarce products nor an event that induces first-come, first-served competition." The representative continued, "There are no decisions yet on when to resume the promotion or whether to introduce quantity limits or other operational changes in the future. We will gather feedback now that the event has ended."
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