Sales of inexpensive domestic beer and soju have risen again in the liquor market. Wine's popularity has cooled.
According to the three major hypermarket chains on the 9th, domestic beer accounted for 24.0% to 27.6% of liquor sales in January–September this year, ranking No. 1.
Looking at Emart's liquor sales share, domestic beer (24%), wine (22%), Western spirits (19%), soju (17%), imported beer (12%), traditional liquor (5%), and nonalcoholic beer (1%) followed in that order.
Until recently, domestic beer had the largest share of sales in the Korean liquor market. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the trends of "drinking at home" and "drinking alone" spread, wine took the top spot. In 2022 and 2023, at Emart and Lotte Mart, wine ranked No. 1 in liquor sales.
As the wine craze faded and the slump and high inflation dragged on, domestic beer reclaimed the No. 1 spot in liquor sales rankings starting last year.
By volume, soju sold the most. Demand for entirely nonalcoholic beer is also growing. In January–September this year, nonalcoholic beer sales at Emart and Lotte Mart rose by about 25% from a year earlier.