Fits Well with Lifestyle of Young Consumers
Korea Ginseng Corp. (KGC). said on Aug. 23 that cumulative sales of Red Ginseng Tablet Everytime, a product of its CheongKwanJang brand, have crossed the milestone of 1 trillion won. While other red ginseng products are suffering a drop in sales, this product is enjoying an increase in sales and exports.
According to the company, cumulative sales of Red Ginseng Tablet Everytime since its launch in 2012 stood at 1.212 trillion won as of July this year. A total of 400 million packs have been sold so far, which means 1.2 packs were sold per second.
Sales of this product grew from 9 billion won in 2013 to 48 billion won in 2015, 100 billion won in 2016, and 170 billion won in 2021.
“The product fits well with the lifestyle of the MZ generation (those born in the early 1980s to early 2000s) who pays much attention to health care from a young age,” a company official said.
He added that the company developed the product in a stick type to make it convenient to carry and eat, after learning that there was demand for red ginseng products among young consumers. After the launch of this product, the proportion of consumers in their 20s and 30s in CheongKwanJang sales has risen from 5 percent in 2012 to 15 percent lately.
Exports are driving sales growth. In 2021, exports of this product jumped by about 30 percent year-on-year. In particular, it ranked first in sales among CheongKwanJang products in six Asian regions including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam.
In Chinese-speaking regions, Korean ginseng had long been perceived to be a plant for the elderly and the main product in the red ginseng market had been root ginseng. But this perception changed as Everytime gained popularity overseas thanks to scenes of actors eating this product in Korean TV shows such as “Descendants of the Sun (2016)” and “The King, Eternal Monarch (2020).”
Diversification of the Everytime product lineup has also paid off. The red ginseng concentrate was added with licorice extract and propolis to ease its bitterness. Last year, sales of the product with a softer taste increased by more than 4.3 times from 2017.
Everytime exports are on a sharp rise. By country, sales grew 65 percent in Japan and 69 percent in Taiwan last year compared to the previous year. Its sales growth reached 22 percent in Malaysia, 29 percent in Vietnam and 36 percent in the United States.