The vast majority of Chinese customers at South Korean duty free stores are now in their 20s and 30s, according to retailers’ latest figures.
The statistics underline an accelerating shift from the previous reliance on middle-aged Chinese travellers. The number of younger Chinese travellers is rising and they are attracted to South Korea because of the country’s pop and drama culture and the shopping experiences on offer, according to the retailers.
The Shilla Duty Free confirmed to The Moodie Davitt Report that the 20-30 age group accounted for 76.5% of Chinese customers at its flagship duty free store in Seoul in the first nine months of this year. Chinese customers in their 40s and 50s made up just 21.7% of the total.
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The retailer provided with some telling analysis of the evolving age mix among Chinese shoppers during the Chinese National holidays.
Customers under the age of 40 only accounted for 35.7% of total shoppers in 2009 and just 30.3% of sales that year. But by 2012 the age group’s ratio of total shoppers had risen to 59.3% (and 59% of sales).
The 20s age group has shown remarkable growth in the last eight years: from 3.1% [of sales] in 2009 to 35.9% in 2016,” The Shilla Duty Free said.
However, the retailer said the numbers were derived exclusively from its membership database, creating a sampling bias “because there is a larger number of Chinese customers who are not in our membership”.
Additionally, customers in their 20s and 30s are more accustomed to registering and using membership services, Lotte Duty Free said.
Hotel Shilla noted that Chinese millennials were the main visitors to The Shilla Duty Free store in Seoul during Chinese national holidays in 2016. Customers in their 20s and 30s accounted for 72.7% of all Chinese visitors – rising from 30.2% in 2009.
‘Xinluo daka’ means ‘Master of The Shilla’ and describes The Shilla Duty Free’s strategy of recruiting powerful Chinese social media key opinion leaders (KOLs) to communicate with Chinese social media users.
(Source: Moodie Davitt)