During a school field trip to seoul, my classmates and I met a professor teaching digital marketing. He talked to us about five consumer trends in Korea.
Wolabal
Wolabal stands for ‘work and life balance’ which Korean writes the way it sounds like. People, these days, want to balance work and life. In the past, people could not balance. Rather, they had to choose one, which means they chose either they will work or not. This is because employees were often forced to do extra work after business hours even though they did not get paid. Today, however, they are able to balance work and life by not being forced by their companies due to an enforcement of laws.
Home Alone
According to the professor, a percentage of single-person households has increased and reached 29% while that of Japan is 35%. Japan is well-known for its individualistic society. These days, Korea is also heading towards an individualistic society and many new businesses are entering a market serving people who live or hang out alone.
Changes in Consumption
In terms of consumption, there are two remarkable changes. First of all, people prefer ‘experience’ over ‘ownership’. Instead of going for shopping, people choose to experience or travel. Secondly, they choose subscription over buying. For example, more people sign up for subscription instead of buying magazines. This is because of low tendency of ownership and cheaper prices.
Floating
‘Floating’ refers to traveling or ‘flying’. Recently, people travel often to overseas. Relating to changes in consumption, they prefer to experience many things through traveling. A development of the internet has enabled people to accept a lot of information in a short period of time. Social media, especially, has much influence on people and triggers them to travel.
New-tro
New-tro stands for new retro which is a culture to enjoy old-fashioned things in a new way. More and more people find aesthetics from old things. In my opinion, this is because people are tired of fast-changing society and miss things from the past even though they have never saw or used those things before.
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