Sales of kimchi refrigerators in South Korea have shown a sharp uptick in the past year. kimchi refrigerators which have a typical replacement period of 10 years, are in high demand in Korea. As rental cost is high, more customers are buying the kimchi refrigerator. According to Emart (the largest retailer in South Korea) total sales of kimchi refrigerators from January to September this year increased 30.2 percent compared to the same period last year.
Kimchi refrigerators made their debut in 1995, and sold well until the mid 2000s, as kimchi is a ‘life necessity’ among Korean people. However, with most households having already purchased one of the new devices, sales started to drop from the late 2000s. As the replacement period of a kimchi refrigerators is approximately 10 years and there is demand to change old Kimchi refrigerators to new ones this year in South Korea.
