Moms hoarding Japanese diapers

By Kim Da-ye

Imported diapers made in Japan flew off the shelves as Korean mothers hurriedly hoarded them for fear that the earthquake there would halt production of the necessities.

“I am now reading websites by online childcare communities. Some say stores will soon run out of Goo.n- or Merries-brand diapers, causing panic buying of those products,” a Korean woman wrote Tuesday on 82cook.com, a popular website for housewives.

“We hear that Japanese mothers are lining up for two to three hours to buy a can of powdered formula. I don’t understand why we have to panic-buy diapers at this time.”

Goo.n and Merries are the two most popular Japanese diaper brands that mothers here favor over Korean ones because they better fit Asian babies and are unlikely to cause rashes.

According to Danawa, a price comparison site, Goo.n accounted for 32 percent of the total diaper sales made through Danawa, after Huggies at 35 percent.

On Wednesday, most Goo.n diapers were sold out at online shopping malls with only those for new-born babies left.

A local finanicial daily reported that the sales of Goo.n diapers in the three days after the earthquake shot up 50 percent at Gmarket and those of Merries by 166 percent from a month ago.

On another Internet shopping mall, 11st, Goo.n’s sales rose 90 percent from a week ago and those of Merries by 200 percent.

“I buy Goo.n diapers, and many malls are now sold out. I want to use other diapers, but when I use those from Huggies, the best brand, they leak. Goo.n and Merries diapers don’t. There is a clear quality gap, but the prices of Huggies, Goo.n and Merries don’t differ much,” one mother wrote on 82cook.com.

Some even commented that those imported after the earthquake might be exposed to radiation and now is the time to buy them.