"I Lost Six Years of Earnings": Why 1.96 Million-Subscriber YouTuber Lala Disposed of All "Lee Myunghwa" Merchandise

Losses Mount Due to Poor Demand Forecasting and Rising Storage Costs

Over 50 "Lee Myunghwa" Concept Merchandise Items Ultimately Discarded

Sluggish Sales Continue Amid Price Competitiveness Controversy

Broadcaster and creator Lala has acknowledged the failure of her merchandise business, announcing that she disposed of all remaining inventory following disappointing sales.

On March 15, Lala posted on her social networking service (SNS), "Disposal complete. The maintenance costs alone... Just how many tons have I been storing?" along with a photo of an emptied warehouse. She added, "I disposed of it, so why do I feel like crying?" expressing her complicated emotions. Additionally, Lala shared a message saying, "With the mindset of starting over in 2026," signaling her determination to make a fresh start.

Active on various platforms since 2019, Lala gained a significant fan base through her character "Lee Myunghwa." However, she recently revealed on a broadcast that she "lost most of the profits earned over the past six years to the business," adding, "Storage and disposal costs increased the losses further." Ultimately, Lala made the decision to dispose of the goods kept in storage. The items discarded this time were merchandise themed after her sub-character "Lee Myunghwa." These included around 50 types of products such as daily necessities—fans, slippers, towels, mugs, aprons, stickers, and back scratchers—as well as clothing items like mompe pants, vests, and market bags.

It appears that some of Lala's products were set at relatively high prices, even though similar items could be purchased more cheaply at regular markets or supermarkets, resulting in consumer responses falling short of expectations. For example, a set of three stickers sold for 14,900 won, a back scratcher for 15,000 won, and a vest for 29,900 won.

Failure to accurately forecast demand has also been cited as a major cause. Lala previously stated on a broadcast that she estimated production quantities based on the number of department store visitors. However, in reality, the conversion rate from visitors to buyers was low, and the content's fan base did not directly translate into sales, leading to large amounts of unsold inventory. Furthermore, as the product lineup expanded, the burden of inventory management increased, and the costs associated with long-term storage and disposal further amplified the losses.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.