On the way home, I pull out my phone and open the convenience store app. I search for 'Nongshim potato chips' in stock. Today's target is the 'Spicy Carbonara' flavor, available only at GS25. Yesterday, I picked up the 'Salty Butter' flavor at CU, and the day before that, I got the 'Butter Garlic Shrimp' flavor at Seven Eleven.
The only one left is the 'Cream Cheese Sausage' flavor at Emart24. Photos of four bags lined up together are flooding social media. As confectionery companies and convenience stores compete with 'exclusive flavors,' buying a bag of snacks has turned into a kind of 'convenience store pilgrimage.'
According to the food industry on the 25th, Nongshim launched four varieties of its 'Potato Chip Dining Series' on August 10 in collaboration with CU, GS25, Seven Eleven, and Emart24. While the brand remains the same, the flavors sold are all different.
CU offers 'Gourmet Potato Salty Butter,' GS25 has 'Spicy Carbonara,' Seven Eleven features 'Butter Garlic Shrimp,' and Emart24 presents 'Cream Cheese Sausage.' This is the first time Nongshim has simultaneously released different potato chip flavors across these four convenience stores.
The strategy of varying flavors by store encourages consumers to visit multiple locations. Nongshim is currently running an event where customers can buy all four varieties and share their experiences, dubbed 'convenience store stamp collecting.'
Convenience stores are differentiating themselves by securing exclusive products, while Nongshim simultaneously exposes one brand across major convenience stores. The process of consumers comparing flavors and sharing their experiences on social media becomes part of the marketing strategy.
Lotte Wellfood is taking it a step further by expanding the different flavors into offline experiences. Their 'Kkokalkong Night Market Series,' introduced at the end of last month, includes four flavors: Ssamjang Pork Belly, Maseong Corn, Walking Taco, and Butter Grilled Squid.
Maseong Corn is sold at GS25, Walking Taco at CU, and Butter Grilled Squid at Seven Eleven, while the Ssamjang Pork Belly flavor is available at large supermarkets, traditional markets, and e-commerce platforms.
The response has been swift. The four flavors of the Night Market Series surpassed 800,000 units in sales within two weeks of their launch. Social media and online communities are buzzing with posts sharing photos of complete collections and stock information by store. Distributing products across different convenience stores has effectively created a 'convenience store tour' for consumers.
On the 24th, Lotte Wellfood partnered with the popular night market area, Manseonhof, in Euljiro, Seoul. Until September 13, they will operate 'Kkokalkong X Manseonhof,' selling a limited 20 'Kkokalkong Special Nachos' daily and offering a set menu combining Manseonhof snacks with Kkokalkong. This follows their previous 'Kkokalkong Romantic Pocha' event in Sharosu-gil, bringing the night market concept from convenience stores to an actual night market setting.
The competition for convenience store-exclusive snacks is not limited to Nongshim and Lotte Wellfood. GS25 has teamed up with Orion to launch 'Chunsik Kkobuk Chips Sweet Potato Tanghulu Flavor.' This product combines sweet potato flavor with the crispy texture of tanghulu and features the Kakao Friends character Chunsik on the packaging. Last month, GS25 also introduced 'Yegam Chocolate Coated Potato Chips' as an exclusive offering.
CU is also exclusively selling Haitai Confectionery's 'Osatsu Deli Manju Flavor,' which combines the familiar sweet potato snack with the custard flavor of deli manju. CU is expanding its range of differentiated snacks, including Kkokalkong Walking Taco flavor. In the first half of this year, CU's snack sales increased by 11.2% compared to the same period last year, with a 21.9% increase last month. The co-purchase rate of beer and snacks reached 63%.
Convenience Stores Become Battlegrounds for New Snack Products, Attracting Customers with Exclusive Flavors
The growing focus of confectionery companies on convenience stores is attributed to the increasing influence of these stores in the snack market.
According to NielsenIQ Korea, convenience stores accounted for 36.4% of retail sales in the domestic snack category in the first half of this year, the highest among major retail channels. Convenience stores have evolved from merely selling smaller packages of snacks found in large supermarkets to becoming 'test beds' for launching new products and gauging consumer reactions.
The rapid turnover of food trends has further fueled this strategy. From Dubai chocolate to flavors like yellow cheese, matcha, ube, and corn, specific tastes and ingredients quickly trend on social media before transitioning into mainstream popularity. By launching exclusive or limited-edition products at convenience stores, companies can assess market reactions early while minimizing the risk of failure.
For convenience stores, exclusive products serve as a powerful tool to attract customers. In a market where the competition for store numbers has reached its limits, simply selling the same products as CU, GS25, Seven Eleven, and Emart24 is no longer sufficient to create differentiation.
According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, as of the end of last year, the four major convenience stores (GS25, CU, Seven Eleven, and Emart24) had a total of 53,266 locations, a decrease of 1,586 from the previous year. This marked the first annual decline in store numbers since convenience stores were introduced to South Korea in 1988.
In this context, attaching 'exclusive flavors available only at our convenience store' to well-known brands like Kkokalkong, potato chips, and Kkobuk chips creates a new reason for customers to visit. In fact, CU has positioned expanding differentiated products as a key strategy to enhance the competitiveness of its existing stores.
Consumer behavior has also changed. In the past, new snack products were often sampled once when discovered at a nearby store. Now, the experience involves seeking out specific locations to purchase, comparing different flavors, and sharing the experience on social media. This provides manufacturers with market research benefits by testing multiple flavors simultaneously while drawing customers to various stores.
An industry insider noted, "Recent consumers enjoy not just purchasing new products but also the process of comparing various flavors or hunting for limited items. Manufacturers and convenience stores are increasingly expanding channel-specific products to leverage this consumer trend."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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