"Big and Plenty" Used to Be a College Retreat Staple... The Decline of Large-Capacity PET Bottle Beer

Retail Sales of 1-Liter and 1.6-Liter PET Beer in Decline
12.8% Drop in the First Quarter Compared to Last Year
Popularization of Single- and Two-Person Households and Slump in Alcoholic Beverage Market
Falling Demand Due to Shrinking Group

Once considered a symbol of value-for-money alcoholic beverages, PET bottle beer has now taken a back seat. This is largely due to the overall contraction of the liquor market and declining consumption among one- and two-person households, which has especially dampened the demand for large-capacity purchases originally popular for group gatherings. As a result, PET bottle beer has been affected more than canned or bottled beer.

A large-capacity PET bottle beer is displayed at the liquor section of a major supermarket in downtown Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News.

According to data released by Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT) Food Industry Statistical Information, citing findings from market research firm Market Link, domestic PET bottle beer sales at retail stores nationwide in the first quarter of this year amounted to 141.8 billion won, down 12.8% compared to the same period last year. The scale of this decline was second only to imported bottled beer, which shrank by 18.59% year-on-year. However, when compared to the marginal 1% declines in domestic and imported canned beer, which both generate over 100 billion won in sales per quarter, the downward trend in PET bottle sales stands out more starkly.

Major breweries typically offer domestic PET bottle beer in 1-liter and 1.6-liter options, equivalent to packing three to four bottles of the 500-milliliter bottled beer. They have been seen as a value product because they cost less per unit than canned or bottled beer and offer a larger volume. Demand was also driven by the convenience for outdoor activities and college retreats, where sharing among many participants was common.

The situation has changed since the transition to an endemic phase of infectious diseases. Drinking trends in Korea have shifted from group gatherings and office dinners toward solo drinking (“honsul”) or drinking at home (“homesul”). For many, a large bottle of beer now feels excessive. The nature of beer, which is not well-suited to being saved after opening, adds to this. Among Millennials & Gen Z, a Sober Curious movement has spread—one that emphasizes enjoying taste and atmosphere without excessive drinking. Breweries are responding by introducing alternatives like non-alcoholic and low-alcohol beers, but even these are primarily sold in cans, further reducing the presence of PET bottle products.

As a result, sales of domestic PET bottle beer that used to hover around 200 billion won per quarter before the onset of COVID-19 have dropped by about 60 billion won in the first quarter of this year, threatening to fall below 140 billion won. Imported PET bottle beer has been hurt even more severely: retail sales, which exceeded 1.4 billion won in the first quarter of 2020, plummeted to just 4 million won in the first quarter of this year.

The declining influence of PET bottle beer is directly linked to falling beer sales at leading beverage companies. In the first half of this year, beer sales at HiteJinro dropped 11.9% year-on-year to 336.4 billion won, while Lotte Chilsung Beverage’s beer sales shrank 29.5% to 18.8 billion won in the same period. On top of this, the industry is grappling with the burden of rising prices for naphtha—a key material for PET bottle manufacturing—and increased logistics costs, both driven by high exchange rates and higher raw material costs due to the impact of ongoing conflicts in the Middle East involving the United States and Iran.

Breweries assert that PET bottle beer still holds symbolic presence on the liquor shelves of major retail channels and that there remains solid demand for large-volume purchases. Yet, in reality, the influence of this category has declined sharply in stores. At major convenience stores, including GS25, CU, and 7-Eleven—which act as key channels for at-home alcohol consumption—sales of PET bottle beer had been on an upward trend until 2024. However, starting last year, year-on-year sales began to decrease. In the first half of this year, sales volume dropped by approximately 5–8% compared to the same period a year earlier.

An industry insider stated, “The main drivers of alcohol consumption have shifted to one- and two-person households, and overall market consumption has declined considerably. PET bottle beer also lacks the diverse flavor options of other beers, while multi-pack discounts for canned beer have become commonplace, undermining its price competitiveness,” he explained.

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