As the opening of professional baseball approaches on the 22nd, the distribution industry is actively engaged in marketing to attract baseball fans. It seems they are trying to draw in fan sentiment by utilizing baseball, which is recording unprecedented box office success amid a stagnant domestic economy.
According to the distribution industry on the 21st, Lotte Shopping's e-commerce platform Lotte On opened the Lotte Giants official brand store on the 5th of this month and began selling products. The site received explosive responses, with over 2,000 sales within one hour of opening. The best-selling items based on quantity were cheering tools such as clappers, kids’ clubs, and Nuri baseballs. The largest demographic among purchasing customers was women in their 20s and 30s.
This is the first time that the Lotte Giants have opened an online brand store on an e-commerce platform. This collaboration was initiated to strengthen the gateway among the group's on- and offline affiliates. A representative from the Lotte Giants noted, 'The existing main users were women in their 40s and 50s, but with Lotte On's entry, there has been an increase in new customers who are women in their 20s and 30s.' They added, 'There were many positive evaluations regarding the enhancement of online purchasing experiences, such as restock alerts and delivery notifications via Kakao Plus Friend.'
Shinsegae Group, which owns the SSG Landers baseball team, will hold 'Landers Day' starting on the 4th of next month, coinciding with the opening of professional baseball. This is a discount event involving offline affiliates including Emart, Traders, and Shinsegae Department Store, and online affiliates such as SSG.com, Gmarket, and W Concept. Last year's Landers Day recorded sales of 1.136 trillion won over seven days, more than doubling compared to the previous year's event.
Each affiliate will also conduct separate events. Emart will offer discounts on deli products that are great for enjoying while watching baseball in person, starting from the 21st for a week. The e-commerce platforms Gmarket and Auction also conducted a project titled 'Everything about Watching Professional Baseball.' They have also strengthened services for fans attending games in person. SSG Landers has partnered with Yogiyo this year to expand the 'smart order' takeaway service at food and beverage outlets inside Incheon SSG Landers Field.
Musinsa, the fashion platform, operates a sports specialty store called Musinsa Player, which features brand pages for teams like the LG Twins, Lotte Giants, Samsung Lions, SSG Landers, and Hanwha Eagles, selling uniforms and other merchandise.
Last August, the limited edition uniform package launched by Fila and Doosan Bears to commemorate their 30th anniversary sold out within one minute. Recently, the '24 denim jersey' released through the collaboration between SSG Landers and Musinsa gained popularity, receiving the nickname 'blue uniform.'
A Musinsa representative stated, 'The baseball interest of those in their 20s and 30s symbolizes that it is the leading fashion platform widely used in the country, which is why the teams have chosen Musinsa as their uniform retailer.'
SPC Samlip, in collaboration with the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), has launched 'KBO Bread.' It includes a total of 215 types of stickers featuring mascots from nine of the ten professional baseball teams, excluding the Lotte Giants, as well as representative players and national representatives. Woongjin Food has partnered with the KBO to release packages of sky barley designed with each team's mascot.
Seven-Eleven, the convenience store of Lotte Group, plans to sell the KBO professional baseball collection cards, which gained popularity after their release last June. This product sold 1 million packs within three days of its launch. GS Retail operates a Hanwha Eagles-themed specialized store in Daejeon and an LG Twins-themed store near Jamsil Baseball Stadium. The multiplex cinema CGV, which has been struggling with a decrease in moviegoers, will broadcast major KBO league games live in theaters this year.
Last year, the number of domestic professional baseball spectators exceeded 10 million for the first time in history. The exhibition games held last weekend also recorded sold-out events. Especially, interest from younger generations, including women in their 20s, surged. According to Embrain, the number of visitors to the baseball stadium during last year's regular season increased by approximately 28% compared to the previous year. Female attendees rose by 142%, and female visitors in their 20s increased by 160%.
The distribution industry believes that baseball fans are not just watching the games, but are emerging as loyal customers with spending power. In fact, among all purchasers at the Lotte Giants official brand store that opened this month, women in their 20s and 30s accounted for over 55%.
This is analyzed to be related to the content consumption attitude of the younger generation. According to a Deloitte survey, 77% of Generation Z sports fans (born after 2000) engage in other activities such as social media (SNS), searching, betting, and shopping while watching sports games. This indicates that they do not just enjoy the contents of the games but engage with a broader range of content. Therefore, the distribution industry needs to connect various types of content that allow fans to build connections through sports.
A representative from the distribution industry noted, 'As sports fandom grows, collaboration between teams and distributors is moving beyond simple image usage to a more systematic strategy.' They added, 'There are also many cases where teams are reaching out to brands that are popular among younger audiences, considering the increase in young viewers.'