Food and Drink E-Commerce in South Korea

PROSPECTS

Food and drink continues to grow rapidly within e-commerce

Food and drink e-commerce is performing well to become one of the main growth drivers to lead the channel. As demographics are changing quickly with increased numbers of single-person households and consumers seeking greater convenience to save time, the popularity of packaged food, particularly ready meals, is rising.

Social media becomes crucial channel

Social media becomes a crucial channel, especially for the food and drink category. “Mukbang”, which is a live broadcast of food being eaten, is particularly popular, such that many food and drink manufacturers and retailers are actively marketing this way.

Store-based grocery players are focusing more on e-commerce

Since store-based grocery players are losing popularity to e-commerce, they are actively expanding their businesses online by utilising their outlets as a hub for logistics to cover the entire country. The advantages of store-based grocery players in the e-commerce industry are that they already have logistics centres in many parts of South Korea, while e-commerce players typically have one centre near Seoul.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Food and drink-specialised e-commerce players perform well

Many food and drink-specialised e-commerce players are noticeably increasing and performing well in South Korea. Market Kurly is a great example of a fast-growing food and drink e-commerce player with guaranteed overnight delivery.

Foodservice delivery platform starts food and drink delivery as well

Not only e-commerce retailers but also foodservice delivery platforms are entering the food and drink e-commerce industry. Baedal Minjok, which is the largest foodservice delivery platform in South Korea, added B Mart to its delivery application to target single-person households who only require smaller amounts of food and drink.

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