Instead, the household appliance giant was selling a subscription package: kitchen and living room appliances bundled with care services and tailored to the size of a couple’s first home.
The pitch reflected a changing calculation among younger South Koreans. With budgets tight and housing arrangements often temporary, paying to use an appliance can seem more practical than buying one to keep.
At the home of Jang, an office worker in his 30s in Seoul’s Seongsu-dong, few appliances are truly his.
“I try to live as cheaply as possible, almost like a beggar,” he said. “I look for the cheapest option whenever I can.”
He also uses Korea’s so-called geojibang, or “beggar chatrooms,” where users share spending habits and tips for cutting costs. For Jang, subscriptions have become part of the same effort to keep monthly spending manageable.
Yoo, another Seoul office worker in his 30s, saw that logic at work when colleagues living in company housing chose subscription plans for wall-mounted air conditioners.
They saw little reason to buy an appliance they expected to replace once they bought homes of their own.
“With card discounts, the monthly subscription cost made more sense for the five years they expected to stay in company housing,” Yoo said.
For younger consumers, subscriptions are already part of everyday spending.
A 2025 survey by consumer research firm OpenSurvey found that South Korean consumers subscribed to an average of 2.5 service categories. Video streaming was the most common at 69.1 percent, followed by shopping memberships at 65.7 percent.
Those in their 20s and 30s used the broadest range of paid subscriptions, including newer categories such as cloud storage and generative artificial intelligence, according to the survey.
The expansion into physical goods comes as spending on big-ticket purchases weakens. Sales of durable goods, including cars and household appliances, fell 5.6 percent in August from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics’ industrial activity report released Wednesday. The decline widened from 4.9 percent in July.
Carmakers are also adjusting to consumers reluctant to commit to big purchases.
Kia’s app-based subscription service, Kia Flex, lets customers use a car for a chosen period without buying it. Its monthly plans offer terms ranging from 15 to 540 days, while selected packages allow customers to switch vehicles once a month. The service also provides vehicle delivery and collection, along with maintenance support.
Hyundai Motor has sought to ease the financial burden of ownership through its “EV Burden Down” program. The installment plan lowers monthly payments by deferring part of the vehicle’s price until the end of the contract.
Customers can then return the car to settle the deferred amount under the program’s terms. The arrangement is a form of financing rather than a subscription, but similarly addresses the burden of a large purchase.
For appliance makers, manageable monthly payments and bundled care services are becoming increasingly important selling points.
Roughly one in three customers buying major appliances through sales channels offering Samsung’s subscription program chooses that option, according to Samsung Electronics.
Awareness of the service rose to about 71 percent in July from 43 percent in 2024, the company said.
Samsung launched its AI Subscription Club in December 2024, with AI-equipped products accounting for more than 90 percent of the initial lineup.
It has since expanded its offerings to cater to different stages of life, including plans for newlyweds and seniors. Samsung is also rolling out subscriptions for banks, hotels, hospitals and other corporate customers, combining lower upfront costs with maintenance and after-sales support.
Jang encountered the program when his family recently replaced its television.
“It feels more like an installment plan than a subscription,” he said. “Still, benefits like free subscription periods can make it worth considering.”
LG Electronics has also been expanding its subscription business. Revenue from its product-and-service subscriptions reached nearly 2.5 trillion won ($1.85 billion) in 2025, up 29 percent from the previous year, according to the company.
Its subscription website also offers furniture to complement its appliances.
Consumer interest suggests room for further growth, although actual use remains limited.
A January survey by Embrain Trend Monitor of 1,000 adults aged 19 to 69 found that just 11.1 percent currently used an appliance subscription service.
But 60.5 percent of respondents in their 20s said they were willing to use one in the future, the highest share among all age groups and above the overall figure of 51.7 percent.
Among respondents with subscription experience, 36.3 percent cited lower upfront costs as a reason for signing up, while 29.9 percent pointed to promotions and discounts.
Kim Si-wuel, a professor at Konkuk University’s Department of Consumer Information Science, said financial pressure and changing attitudes toward ownership were driving the shift.
“Money has become the biggest factor,” Kim said. “Some people simply cannot afford to own things like cars or homes, and subscriptions offer another way to access them.”
The appeal also reflects a growing familiarity with paying for use.
“Just as people are accustomed to living in a home they do not own and paying rent, they are becoming more accustomed to using something without necessarily owning it,” she said.
That calculation is particularly relevant for younger adults who expect to spend years in rental housing. An appliance built to last a decade may be less attractive to someone expecting to move within a few years.
Yang, 35, who lives in Gangwon Province, said subscriptions can fit the needs of younger renters.
“If the subscription period matches how long you plan to stay, you can return the appliance when you move instead of paying a lot to move and reinstall it.”
The connection also appeared in the Embrain survey: 67.8 percent of respondents said appliance subscriptions could be useful for people who move frequently or whose housing situation changes.
Kim suggested that digital life may also influence how younger generations think about lasting commitments.
“The current generation may have many contacts on their phones, but only a small number of people they are deeply connected to,” she said.
“Someone they meet online can still be considered a friend. That way of forming relationships can also shape how they think about consumption.”
For young consumers the immediate calculation is practical: how much they must pay each month and how long they expect to need what they are paying for.
An appliance may last a decade. Their current home — or their need for it — may not.
AJP Takeaways
- South Korean consumers are extending subscription habits from digital services to appliances and cars.
- Samsung says roughly one in three major-appliance customers at sales channels offering its subscription program chooses that option.
- In an Embrain survey, 60.5 percent of respondents in their 20s were willing to use appliance subscriptions, compared with 51.7 percent overall.
- Lower upfront costs, bundled maintenance and temporary housing arrangements help explain the appeal among younger consumers.
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