GS25, the convenience store chain operated by GS Retail (007070.KS), said on the 28th that it will begin selling winter foods including ready-to-eat fish cakes at about 5,000 stores nationwide starting Oct. 1. Depending on the item, that is roughly two weeks earlier than last year.
For this winter, GS Retail has teamed up with Goraesa Fish Cake, a 60-year-old fish cake brand from Busan, to offer six ready-to-eat fish cake varieties: original folded square, double folded square, assorted fish cakes, white folded square, rice cake skewer and vegetable skewer.
An analysis of the past three years of ready-to-eat fish cake sales data showed that sales on days when the average temperature was below 15 degrees Celsius were 74% higher than on days at or above 15 degrees. That finding is behind the decision to start selling winter foods in October, when average temperatures begin to fall.
GS Retail is also expanding promotions on winter roasted items such as roasted sweet potatoes, fish-shaped pastries, roasted eggs and roasted potatoes. Roasted sweet potatoes and roasted potatoes come with a 1,000 won discount when purchased with an Americano, while roasted eggs are offered on a one-plus-one basis and fish-shaped pastries on a two-plus-one basis.
"Customer demand for warm food rises clearly as temperatures drop, so this year we moved up the launch of winter products by more than two weeks from previous years to capture that demand early," a GS Retail official said.
