Winter Shopping Trends on Coupang

Are you curious about the most popular winter items and trends on Coupang? Look no further! Coupang Marketplace sees recurring seasonal trends across our 20 million customers shopping for their everyday needs, and winter is no exception.  

Winters in South Korea consist of cold and dry temperatures, accompanied by a good amount of snowfall. With a large percentage of the Korean population walking and using public transportation on a daily basis, staying warm while getting to work or transferring between the bus and the subway is a must. In fact, nearly 55% of the Korean population says that they use public transportation to commute to work, and 44% said that their average commute time is between 30 minutes to an hour.  

Trending products and keywords across Coupang are consistent with the need to stay warm and cozy. During the months of December, January, and February, themes like staying warm in the cold weather, prepping for the holiday season, winter fashion, and New Year’s preparations are extremely popular among consumers. Hashtags, including #Vacation, #YearEndParty, #WinterSnack, #Cold, and #Resolutions, increase in usage during the winter, giving an indication of what Korean consumers are focusing on shopping for (Data Source: Google Trends).   

Trending keywords by category include: 

Fashion 

• Long padded jacket 
• Short padded jacket 
• Padding 
• Heat Teach (UNIQLO product line) 
• Jogger pants 
• Tweed jacket 
• Oversized sweatshirt 
• Fleece-lined jacket 
• Cardigan 
• Trench coat 

Beauty 

• Mask pack 
• Sunscreen 
• Moisturizing hand cream  
• Lip balm  

Consumer Electronics/ Digital 

• Heater 
• Height adjustable heater 
• Lint remover 
• Foot warmer 
• Mini humidifier 
• Ultrasonic humidifier 
• Vacuum cleaner 

Sports/ Leisure 

• Snow sled 
• Kid’s boots 
• Cold protection mask 
• Pocket hot pack 
• Mini hot pack 
• Heating gloves 
• Ski gloves 

Christmas Celebration: 

During the month of December, themes surrounding fantastic holidays, Christmas presents and parties, the shopping season, and preparing for the Lunar New Year are popular among consumers. Events and promotions around the holiday season often focus on popular gifts for lovers and friends for Christmas, as well as toys for children, Christmas decorations for the perfect holiday party, and gift sets to be prepared for the New Year’s and Lunar New Year’s celebrations.  

Categories often highlighted in these promotional events include: 

• Toys 
• Home appliances 
  • Steamer 
  • Waffle iron 
  • Electrical heater 
  • Thermos  
• Travel essentials  
• Health food 
  • Vitamins 
• Beauty  
• Sports and Leisure 
  • Hot Packs 
  • Sleds 
  • Ski gloves 

The Christmas season also brings a change in trending search terms and topics. Some of the most popular Google search terms used in December cover keywords related to the years-end, New Year’s holidays, and Christmas. More specifically, keywords such as “Christmas Greeting”, “Winter Solstice”, “Christmas Cake”, “Christmas Tree”, and “Christmas Date” (Data Source: Google Trends) trend during this time. Data from Naver Labs also indicates that there are increased searches of “Christmas Cookie”, “Christmas Cake”, “Christmas Snack”, and “Christmas Garland” during December (Data Source: Naver DataLab).  

New Years Preparation:  

At the end of December and throughout January and February, themes reflecting on the passing holidays, winter vacation, preparing for the New Year and New Year’s resolutions, and Lunar New Year are very common. The main focus of these promotional events is often the upcoming Lunar New Year celebration. 

Categories often highlighted in these promotional events include: 

• Stationary  
  • New Year’s calendars 
  • Planners 
• Snack 
  • Lunar New Year gift set/ snack set 
  • Handmade chocolate 
  • Coin chocolates 
  • Fruit gift set 
• Life/ Health 
  • Diet foods 
  • Dietary supplements 
  • Massagers as gifts 
• Gift Sets 
  • Gift sets of all categories (Beauty, household products, food) 

The New Year’s and Lunar New Year’s holidays bring with them their own set of trending search terms and topics. Some of the most popular Google search terms cover keywords related to ritual food and supplies, holiday food, respecting elders, New Year’s resolutions, and weight loss. More specifically, keywords such as “New Year”, “Ritual”, “Lunar New Year”, “Calorie”, “Cleaning”, “Traveling”, “Traveling to Japan”, and “Gift Set” (Data Source: Google Trends) trend during this time. Data from Naver Labs also indicates that there are increased searches of “Gift Set”, “Seollal Gift Set”, “New Year Money Envelopes”, and “Diet” (Data Source: Naver DataLab). 

For more information on seasonal product trends, make sure to check out our other articles highlighting the popular products and categories in Korea during the Summer and Monsoon seasons.