As soon as the doors opened at 3 p.m. for the opening game of the “Major League Baseball (MLB) World Tour Seoul Series” at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Mar. 20, throngs of people flooded into a store selling jerseys, T-shirts, baseball caps, baseballs, and other merchandise bearing the names and numbers of Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres players.
Numerous customers eagerly queued up to buy the jersey of Japanese baseball sensation Shohei Ohtani, who represents the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the “Ohtani shirt” quickly flew off the shelves, becoming the first item to sell out. “According to MLB officials, their overseas merchandise sales reached a record high during the Seoul Series,” said Choi Jun-ho, vice chairman of Fashion Group Hyungji, which handles the South Korean merchandise business of MLB and Fanatics, an American manufacturer and online retailer of licensed sportswear for the MLB. He highlighted that merchandise featuring popular stars like Ohtani was exceptionally difficult to keep in stock due to the overwhelming demand.
This year, the fashion industry expects Uniqlo, a Japanese apparel company to surpass 1 trillion won ($743.88 million) in sales. Uniqlo’s domestic operator, FRL Korea, posted sales of 921.9 billion won ($685.68 million) in fiscal year 2023 (September 2022-August 2023), up 30.9% from the previous year, and operating profit of 141.2 billion won ($105.03 million), up 23.1% from the previous year. In 2019, Uniqlo, which had sales of 1.37 trillion won ($1.25 billion), saw its sales halve the following year and lost money after the South Korean boycott of Japanese products. However, the apparel company witnessed a turnaround in 2022, demonstrating a resurgence in sales and profitability.
There’s a growing trend dubbed “Yes Japan” across various sectors, spanning from apparel to food in South Korea. Analysts attribute this trend to several factors, including increased travel to Japan in recent years, driven by the prolonged period of “yen depreciation” where the Japanese yen becomes cheaper than the South Korean won. This has made consumers in the country more open to purchasing Japanese products and more accustomed to them. Additionally, the number of direct purchases from Japan continues to increase due to highly competitive prices.
Japanese sweets have also been enjoying notable success in South Korean convenience stores lately. Many consumers who have had the opportunity to taste those during trips to Japan are now delighted to find them readily available at convenience stores in the country. For instance, 7-Eleven, a convenience store chain recently introduced “Langue de Chasse White Chocolate” and “Langue de Chasse Chocolate,” to its stores, both of which are known for their popularity in Japan. Within just a month of their introduction, these sweets sold a remarkable 400,000 pieces, quickly claiming the top two spots in the store’s sweet sales rankings.
Coupang, a prominent South Korean e-commerce platform, has recently introduced its Japanese rocket delivery service in the middle of March. This service offers direct sales of popular Japanese snacks and foods from brands like NISSIN FOODS Group, Meiji Corp, LeTAO, and Ajinomoto AGF, providing customers with access to items they may have enjoyed while traveling in Japan. Additionally, Japanese beauty and household products including Kao Co’s Biore, Shiseido’s Fino and Senka, and TSUBAKIMOTO CHAIN Co’s Tsubaki are available for purchase, allowing consumers to conveniently acquire products they couldn’t access during their travels. The platform also offers discounts on home and kitchen brand products from Ishida Co and Joseph Joseph, as well as books and stationery from Zebra, Mitsubishi, and Pentel. Furthermore, a variety of home appliances and digital products are offered at discounted prices. Notably, items such as NISSIN FOODS Group’s cup noodles, Orihiro Group’s konjac jelly, and Shiroi Koibito Park’s Shiroi Koibito biscuits, known as the Japanese version of Couque Dasse, sold out immediately. BANDAI Co’s bath products featuring “Sanrio Characters” including Hello Kitty are also sold out immediately. According to Statistics Korea, the volume of online direct overseas purchases from Japan increased 11.0% year-on-year last year.
Besides, Japanese beer has reclaimed its position as the top imported beer in South Korea. Despite a previous boycott that temporarily reduced imports by one-fifth, last year marked a significant resurgence, with the country’s beer imports from Japan reaching the number-one spot for the first time in five years. According to the Korea Customs Service’s Trade Statistics System, South Korea imported Japanese beer worth $55.56 million last year, representing a remarkable surge of 283.3% from the previous year. The popularity of Japanese beer has been further fueled by the increasing demand for products such as canned Asahi draft beer, particularly at convenience stores.
