Kimchi refrigerators catch on as alternative cooler

By Baek Byung-yeul

LG Electronics' kimchi refrigerator / Courtesy of LG Electronics

Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Winia Dimchae and other household appliance makers are enjoying brisk sales of kimchi refrigerators, even though people are decreasingly using them to store homemade kimchi, according to company officials Monday.

They said kimchi refrigerators have become an “essential” alternative fridge in many households as more consumers purchase the coolers, designed to store the traditional staple, to store various other food items such as meat, vegetables and fruit.

According to data by the World Institute of Kimchi, more Koreans prefer to purchase kimchi rather than laboriously making it themselves, reducing the need for kimchi refrigerators, as the amount of homemade kimchi in 2017 was decreased to 1.22 million tons from 1.47 million tons in 2014.

Samsung Electronics' kimchi refrigerator / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

However, industry data showed the market size of the kimchi refrigerators has increased from around 1 million in 2013 to about 1.3 million in 2018. And retailers said they have seen a more than 20 percent of increase in kimchi refrigerator sales this year.

Online shopping mall Gmarket said sales of the refrigerators from Oct. 23 to 29 were increased by 20 percent compared with the same period in 2018. Another online retailer Auction announced it also has seen a 24 percent increase year-on-year during the same period.

An LG official said the refrigerators have become an essential household item as improved technology has made people store not only kimchi but also many other foods.

“As kimchi gets more delicious when the fermented food ages at a cool temperature, Korean people used to bury crockpots containing kimchi in the ground. However, since LG, then known as Goldstar, developed the kimchi refrigerator in 1984, the appliance has become a must-have household item because now they can store various foods,” the official said.

Among the types of refrigerators, the manufacturers said floor-standing kimchi refrigerators are increasingly popular compared to chest coolers because they are more convenient to use and store more groceries. With the rise of single-person households, smaller kimchi refrigerators are also being sold more frequently, they added.

“There are generally two types of kimchi refrigerators ― a chest cooler and floor-standing one ― and the latter is thriving these days, at a ratio of 7:3,” a Samsung official said. “Consumers of our products said the floor-standing refrigerators are more convenient because they have to open a lid and bend down from the waist to reach into the chest coolers ones.”

The official added kimchi refrigerator can also store different types of foods ranging from vegetables and fruit to wine.

Winia Dimchae's kimchi refrigerator / Courtesy of Winia Dimchae

Winia Dimchae official added the floor-standing coolers account for 70 percent of its entire sales of kimchi refrigerators.

“The chest cooler has better performance in terms of preserving kimchi for a long period, because people only open the lid to take out their kimchi and this makes the machines preserve foods inside at a steady temperature,” the official said. “However, the changing needs of consumers, which is to keep more types of foods in fresh condition, has made the floor-standing ones best sellers.”