With daytime highs climbing to 27–28 degrees, demand for summer goods, which typically gains momentum after May, is arriving early. Retailers targeting the so-called "early summer" are also moving quickly.
According to the retail industry on the 29th, Kim's Club, a supermarket operated by E-Land Group, moved up its watermelon shipping schedule by about 10 days this year compared with last year. It also increased operating volume by about 67% from a year earlier and expanded direct-contract farms centered on Nonsan and Buyeo in South Chungcheong from about 40 to about 50. Cumulative watermelon sales at Kim's Club from the 1st to the 28th of this month rose 85% from a year earlier.
E-MART and Lotte Mart also began actively selling summer fruits such as watermelons and Korean melons in early April. According to E-MART, April watermelon sales rose 22% from a year earlier, and Korean melon sales increased 35.4%. During the same period, Lotte Mart's watermelon sales also increased 21.2% from a year earlier.
A representative of a major hypermarket said, "As shipping dates move up compared with previous years, origin buyers are also advancing contract timings to secure volume," adding, "If you fail to secure early volumes, peak-season sales themselves become difficult, so competition at producing areas is effectively starting in spring."
Early-summer spending is spreading across various categories. According to GS Retail, which operates the GS25 convenience store chain, sales of large-size canned coffee from the 1st to the 28th of this month jumped 169.5% from a year earlier. During the same period, sales of sandwich ice cream increased 69%, and cone ice cream sales rose 49.3%.
According to BGF Retail, sales of sun care and deodorant at CU convenience stores during the same period increased 21.6% from a year earlier. Sun care cosmetics sales at 7-Eleven convenience stores rose 28%. Fan sales at E-MART increased 80.2% from a year earlier, and on Musinsa, searches for short-sleeve T-shirts increased about sixfold year over year.
Analysts say that competition to capture customers, once concentrated just before peak season, is now shifting toward moving up product planning and volume-securement timelines. If price and promotions were the main variables in the past, now "how much earlier you prepared first" is emerging as the key competitive edge.
A retail industry official said, "With the timing of summer spending moving up by about a month as daytime temperatures recently climb to around 30 degrees, performance now depends on how proactively companies plan products and secure volumes," adding, "Beyond simple price competition, the ability to read seasonal demand first has become crucial."
Lee Jong-woo, a professor in the Department of Distribution and Marketing at Namseoul University, said, "As climate change alters the flow of seasonal consumption patterns, retail strategies are comprehensively shifting," adding, "If the past structure focused on preparing for the peak season, now a 'preemptive competition' that responds before demand forms is becoming more important."