Here we go! Finally gave it a try

 

Eventually, summer has come and we usually expect this is the best time for having beer. Particularly, this is going to be the first summer after more than three years long pandemic thus we are excited for many reasons.

The liquor industries, in the middle of fierce battle to gain more market share, is also excited. I heard about rumors about newly released product Kelly and I bought four cans of them. Kelly is a good accompaniment to many snacks readily available in the groceries and convenient stores, to say the least.

According to media, a total of 1.04 million boxes of Kelly which Hite Jinro ambitiously launched early last month, were sold by the 10th of May 2023. When converted to 330ml bottles, the amount is 31.62 million bottles. If the sales volume is converted into hourly units, about 10 bottles/hour.

Hite Jinro launched a new beer product for the first time in four years and continues its aggressive marketing. CEO Kim In-kyu, who never exposed himself in the media since taking office in 2011, also helped promote Kelly by having interviews for the first time in 12 years.

But let’s not forget our old friend OB. The memory of the Pro baseball team OB bears has haunted me since the first year of Korean Pro-baseball (may be 1983). OB Beer, still the No. 1 player in the market, also seems to be aware of what is going on. So far, OB Beer succeeded in defending its No. 1 brand sales share in the domestic beer home market with an overwhelming margin.

According to my observation, distribution efforts of the Kelly is not enough and consumers are still unfamiliar with this new product. The taste seems to be OK with short duration of bitterness toward finish. I think one reason people dislike 100% malt beer is that they expect fresh feeling, but not anything strong from lager beer and many previously released malt beer products missed this point.

OB Beer recently selected "Casey Kelly," a foreign player from LG Twins, as a spoke model for its product Hanmaek. Experts argued that OB Beer indirectly tried to check its competitors based on the fact that Kelly and Kelly beer have the same spelling.

The liquor industry is introducing new products and launching various promotions to make up for its sluggish business performance during the pandemic. During COVID19, sales of entertainment related products were directly hit as office workers' dinners disappeared due to high-intensity quarantine rules such as social distancing.

Overall prospect of the Korean beer market is far from being optimistic though. With current whisky craze, the drinking culture changes in the wake of the pandemic. On top of that, the price of dining out is rising day after day due to high prices, raising the possibility of a bleeding competition. The overall demand for beer in the home market is also on the decline.

Probably, the market competition in this summer will determine the annual performance of the beer industry. Absolutely, there will be some bleeding competition at a time when the market pie is decreasing. Moreover, it seems that the point will be who loses less than who benefits more.

From the customer’s perspective, with many domestic and imported craft beers, the battle is interesting and beneficial. Related sectors are trying to do something new to gain the edge, resulting in better service.