South Korean media: Chinese brands' "air raid on South Korea" has become a reality!

On May 17, the South Korean media "News1" published an article stating that Chinese brands' "air raid on South Korea" is spreading to dining tables. It's not just electronics like Xiaomi and automobiles like BYD, but also platforms such as Alibaba and Temu. Now, it seems to have penetrated into daily dietary culture.

According to industry insiders, the Chinese milk tea brand "Wangba Tea Empress" recently opened an official Instagram account in South Korea, starting preparations to enter the South Korean market. Known as the "Chinese Starbucks," Wangba Tea Empress has more than 6,000 stores globally.

Wangba Tea Empress is considered to have modernized traditional tea culture through exquisite interiors, emotional packaging, and SNS marketing targeting Generation Z. With the growth of the high-end tea beverage market in South Korea, this brand is likely to quickly capture the South Korean milk tea market.

The perception of Chinese brands among South Korean consumers has recently been changing. Once known for "high cost-performance," Chinese brands are now spreading their dietary culture through trends like spicy hot pot and candied haws. As psychological barriers break down, South Korean consumers' resistance to Chinese products is clearly decreasing.

In fact, the Chinese hot pot chain Haidilao has quickly established itself in the South Korean food market. Sales in South Korea rose sharply from 13.9 billion won (about 70 million RMB) in 2020 to 78.1 billion won (about 400 million RMB) last year. During this period, operating profits reached 11 billion won. The sales of just 9 stores exceeded hundreds of billions of won, which is a rare achievement in the South Korean food industry.

Especially, Haidilao contributed to the popularization of local Chinese cuisine, planting roots in the unfamiliar "hot pot" culture in the South Korean food market. Through unique experience elements such as spicy broth bases and self-service dipping sauce bars, it brought novelty to consumers and triggered strong reactions among Generation Z through viral SNS marketing.

However, there are concerns that the continuous entry of Chinese food brands may have a negative impact on the entire South Korean food industry. This is because if capital-rich Chinese brands fully enter the South Korean market, the position of individual operators with relatively lower capital and brand recognition could be further reduced.

Especially, some analyses suggest that the unique food market strategies of Chinese brands, such as platform operations, rapid store expansion, and viral marketing centered on SNS, may impose significant burdens on the South Korean food industry.

A South Korean industry insider said, "Since its opening, Chinese brands have quickly taken root by heavily promoting products and entering major commercial districts, which inevitably causes great crisis feelings among peers. If this trend continues, it may pose quite a threat to the overall domestic food industry in South Korea."

Original Source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1832335532033368/

Disclaimer: The article solely represents the author's personal views.