These days, people are no strangers to home meal replacement (HMR) products, convenience food products that can be quickly enjoyed at home with ease.
Let's take a look at the changes over the last three years in South Korean consumers' purchase experience rates for each food category and see how closely HMR has become deeply involved in South Korean's dietary culture.
Episode 2: Changes in Purchase Experience Rates for Products in the Side Dish Category
Following the episode 1 which tackled the products in the rice category, in this new episode, we will take a look at the products in the side dish category by dividing them into three subcategories – soup and stew, Korean side dishes, and Western side dishes.
| product | Households purchased by year | Gap between 2016 and 2018 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | ||
| Soup & Stew | 443 | 694 | 831 | 387 |
| Korean side dishes | 775 | 763 | 839 | 61 |
| Western side dishes | 107 | 234 | 288 | 180 |
단위: million households
*Number of households who have purchased a product in the category at least once in a given year
Source KWP. Duration: a period of one year, ending in September
- · In the case of soup and stew, the purchase experience rate increased significantly in 2017, up 2.51 million households from 2016.
- · In the case of Korean side dishes (fritters & Korean-style meatballs, roasted dishes, pancakes, etc.), the purchase experience rate dropped slightly in 2017 but increased again in 2018.
- · In the case of Western side dishes (hamburger steak, meatballs, etc.), the purchase experience rate shows a similar trend as soup and stew; since an increase in 2017, the rate has been steadily increasing.
Purchase experience rate refers to the number of households who have purchased a product in a given category at least once over the year. The changes in purchase experience rates that have occurred over the past three years can be construed as follows:
The following graphs compare the purchase experience rates for each subcategory divided by life stage.
Soup and stew
| Total | One- to two-person households | Households with preschool children | Households with grade-schoolers | Households with middle/high schoolers | Households with college students or older | Senior households |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.31 million households | Slightly lower than overall | Slightly higher than overall | Highest overallSlightly lower than overall | Pretty higher than overall | Slightly lower than overall | Lowest overall |
- · The purchase experience rate for soup and stew is generally high among households with college students or younger, and in particular, the purchase experience rate among households with elementary school children is the highest.
Korean side dishes
| Total | One- to two-person households | Households with preschool children | Households with grade-schoolers | Households with middle/high schoolers | Households with college students or older | Senior households |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.36 million households | Lowest overall | Pretty higher than overall | Highest overall | Pretty higher than overall | Slightly higher than overall | Slightly lower than overall |
- · The purchase experience rate for Korean side dishes is the highest among households with elementary school children, households with preschool children and households with middle/high school children also showing high purchase experience rates.
- · An increase in the number of people eating roasted dishes has led to an increase in the purchase experience rate in the subcategory of Korean side dishes.
Western side dishes
| Total | One- to two-person households | Households with preschool children | Households with grade-schoolers | Households with middle/high schoolers | Households with college students or older | Senior households |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.88 million households | Pretty lower than overall | Pretty higher than overall | Highest overall | Slightly higher than overall | Very lower than overall | Lowest overall |
- · The purchase experience rate for the subcategory of Western side dishes is particularly high among households with young children including preschoolers and those in elementary school, and the gap in purchase experience rates between those households and senior households is significant.
In this episode, we took a look at changes in South Korean consumers' purchase experience rates for the category of side dishes – which are consumed together with main dishes – among HMR products, by dividing them into the subcategories of soup and stew, Korean side dishes, and Western side dishes. In addition to the traditional type of Korean meals consisting of rice and side dishes, in the next episode, we will also take a look at changes in purchase experience rates for snacks, which are consumed as light meals or refreshments. So please stay tuned.