Recently, examples of distributors institutionalizing their own discount events every month are increasing. The strategy is to brand each company's signature event and repeat it monthly to imprint it in customers' minds.
This makes it clear to consumers "when to buy to get a deal," and to corporations "when to make them come." As competition to attract customers intensifies, companies are trying to form customers' purchase routines through regular discount events to maximize the lock-in effect.
According to the industry on the 9th, Lotte Mart will run its in-house discount event "Tongkeun Day" as a regular monthly discount event starting this year. Tongkeun Day offers benefits at rock-bottom prices across all categories, including seasonal flagship fresh and processed foods and daily essentials. Until last year, it ran only during specific periods such as long holidays.
Starting this year, Lotte Mart plans to hold Tongkeun Day simultaneously across Lotte Mart and Lotte Super stores, Lotte Mart MAXX, and Zetta, among other distribution channels of Lotte Group. This month's event ran on the 1st to 4th, and starting next month, the company will separately announce the Tongkeun Day period each month.
Emart will significantly expand the scale of its regular discount event "Goraeit Festa," which has been held since January last year. Last year it ran mainly over weekends for three to four days, but this year the period will be extended to seven days and the number of eligible items will be expanded by more than 30%. The event channels will also grow beyond Emart stores nationwide to include Emart Everyday and No Brand specialty stores.
A similar trend is appearing in e-commerce as well. Gmarket and Auction have designated the 1st to 3rd of every month since September last year as the "G-Rock Fest (Gmarket Jilleorak Festival)" period and are holding discount events. The concept is to carefully select seasonally popular products with high customer preference, offer them in limited quantities, and cut prices to the industry's lowest levels. Gmarket is also working to firmly imprint G-Rock Fest on customers by hiring a different famous singer as an advertising model each month.
The biggest reason distribution companies are institutionalizing monthly discount events like this is to secure loyal customers. An industry official said, "With discount events that come around at specific intervals, customers naturally remember that day as a shopping day and are guided to visit our own channels."
In fact, this strategy is proving effective. According to Emart, Goraeit Festa was held 10 times last year, except for April and November, attracting a total of 23 million customers during the event periods and increasing sales by up to 82% from a year earlier. Gmarket and Auction are also seeing results, with platform visitors during the "G-Rock Fest" period rising more than 20% and discount coupons prepared for customers closing out early.
In addition, from a company's standpoint, holding regular discount events is advantageous for procurement and makes it easier to lower prices. Once event dates are set, it becomes easier to plan advance orders, inventory allocation, and warehouse intake. If strong performance during the event period is ensured, companies can also gain an edge in price negotiations with suppliers.
The domestic pioneer of such "regular promotions" is 11Street. With the slogan "the 11th of every month is Ship-il Day," "Monthly Ship-il Day," which has become 11Street's signature promotion, began in Feb. 2019 and has been held around the 11th of every month. During the Monthly Ship-il Day period, 11Street issues discount coupons on a first-come, first-served basis and also runs events such as prize drawings for purchasing customers.
The industry expects this trend of "monthly regular discounts" to strengthen for the time being. In an economic downturn, the factor that consumers respond to most sensitively when opening their wallets is ultimately price, and regular discount events make it clear "when" they can receive price benefits.
However, there are concerns that the more regular discount events become common, the harder it will be to differentiate. An industry official said, "Actively securing exclusive products and maximizing discount rates — in short, the platform's procurement competitiveness — will be the deciding factor."