Strawberry has become the strongest fruit this winter. E-Mart announced on the 3rd that, as a result of analyzing fruit sales in December last year, strawberry sales exceeded 13 billion won. Last year’s strawberry sales in December were around 10 billion won.
2 years new 9th → 4th… Put the tangerines aside
Consumers looking at strawberries at E-Mart. Photo emart
In 2020, E-Mart’s major product sales ranks ranked 4th after wine, ramen and beer. Strawberry, which was ranked 9th in 2018, climbed to 5th the following year, and last year also surpassed milk, a daily necessity.
Among the 30 kinds of E-Mart fruits, strawberries account for more than 30% of sales. Citrus fruits (2nd place, 14.3%), synonymous with winter fruits, and grapes (3rd place, 11.7%), thanks to the popularity of Shine Musket, cannot keep up with strawberries. Strawberries, which ranked first in fruit sales in December 2019, slightly overtaking tangerines for the first time, sold more than the second and third fruits combined in a year.
Strawberries are so popular because they don’t have a peel, so they are convenient to eat and can be used in various ways. In fact, last year, convenient fruits that have no peel and can be easily eaten were very popular. Shine Muskets, which can be eaten with the skin like strawberries, also increased by more than 90% year-on-year. On the other hand, sales of apples and pears, which are uncomfortable to eat due to their skins, decreased by nearly 10% each.
Home baking fad… 2.5 million hashtags
Strawberries are excellent in use as desserts as well as main dishes such as sandwiches and home baking. In particular, as the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) last year created a zip-cock culture, sales of’dessert DIY (Do It Yourself)’ that you make and eat at home are also increasing. Last December, sales of cookies/chocomics increased 74.3%, cake mix 30.5%, and hot cake powder 51.6% compared to the previous year.
With the popularity of home baking, strawberries are also gaining popularity. This is because it has a sweet and sour taste that will relieve the sweetness of the cake and a beautiful color as a cake decoration. Strawberry images are also popular on social media. Strawberries appear in the home baking post without dropping. There were over 2.5 million strawberry hashtags on Instagram.
The diversification of strawberry varieties is also a factor in increasing sales. In 2018, E-Mart strawberries were mainly based on the’Seolhyang’ variety, but as a result of diversifying varieties from the end of 2019, the proportion of premium strawberry varieties such as’King’s Berry’,’Gumsil’,’Arihyang’,’Janghee’ and’Jukhyang’ last year Greatly increased. During this period, the share of premium strawberries increased from about 15% to 26%. This year, a new variety’Mary Queen’ will also be introduced. The fruit is hard, so it is not easily softened, and it has little sweeter and sour taste than ordinary strawberries, so it is a variety that is highly sought after by young customers with young children.
E-Mart will be holding a’Strawberry Market’ event for a week from the 7th. The plan is to introduce differentiated stores by operating a variety of E-Mart offline-specific varieties by creating a retro atmosphere. In this event, 6 varieties of strawberries, including the representative variety’Seolhyang’ and the new variety’Mary Queen’, are sold at discount prices.
Reporter Chu In-young [email protected]