"I Thought I Was Buying It for My Daughter, but It's for Me?" ... The Unexpected Product Snapped Up by Middle-Aged Men, Who Made Up 70% of Buyers

RESCENE Collaboration Bread Sells 1.5 Million Units
70.3% Aged 30 or Older... Men Account for 66.2%
Same Age Group Accounts for 44.8% of Character IP Product Sales
RESCENE's Fan Base Drives Purchases... Retail Industry Takes Notice

Seven out of 10 buyers of “RESCENE Bread,” made to reflect girl group RESCENE’s tastes, are aged 30 or older. Unlike character-themed breads, which are mainly consumed by students and young people in their teens and 20s, male fans aged 30 and older appear to be playing a major role in purchases.

According to the retail industry on Nov. 1, “RESCENE Bread,” launched by BGF Retail, which operates convenience store chain CU, sold more than 1.5 million units between its launch on Sept. 17 and Oct. 28. BGF Retail fully replaced the photo cards starting Oct. 26, adding one new card to the existing 27 designs for a total of 28, and began selling the second edition. Cumulative sales had surpassed 1 million units just three weeks after launch.

By age group, buyers of RESCENE Bread during the roughly 40 days from its launch through Oct. 28 included 70.3% aged 30 or older. The largest share of sales came from people in their 40s, at 29.6%, followed by those in their 30s at 28.8% and those in their 20s at 23.2%. Buyers aged 50 or older accounted for 11.9%. By gender, men made up 66.2% of buyers, nearly twice the share of women, at 33.8%.

Industry observers consider it unusual that purchases of RESCENE Bread are concentrated among men aged 30 or older. Character-themed breads generally appeal to middle and high school students and people in their 20s, particularly women. According to the “Processed Food Market Segmentation Report: Mass-Produced Bread” by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT), a survey of 500 consumers conducted in August this year found that female middle and high school students accounted for the largest share, at 30%, among respondents who said they eat character-themed bread, based on the combined first- and second-choice responses. Male middle and high school students and women in their 20s followed, each accounting for 29%.

The "RESCENE bread," featuring girl group RESCENE, has sold more than 1.5 million units in just over 40 days since its launch. With 70.3% of buyers aged 30 or older, the influence of the group's high-spending fandom is drawing attention. Official YouTube channel of girl group RESCENE.

The report analyzed that “while consumers of sliced bread, a type of mass-produced bread, are evenly distributed among women in their 20s to 50s, character-themed bread is concentrated among middle and high school students and people in their 20s,” adding that “character-themed bread appears to be a product that appeals to the tastes of younger generations, including teenagers and young adults.”

Sales of products using character intellectual property (IP) at CU this year have also been driven mainly by teenagers and young adults. Among sales of character IP collaboration products sold through CU by BGF Retail from January through September this year, the share from people aged 30 or older was 44.8%, 25.5 percentage points lower than the share of sales of RESCENE Bread to that age group. By age group, people in their 20s accounted for the largest share of sales of character IP collaboration products, at 33.6%, followed by those in their 30s (28.0%) and teens (21.6%). People aged 50 or older accounted for 3.6% of sales of general character IP collaboration products, compared with 11.9% for RESCENE Bread, more than three times as much. This is interpreted as a sign that RESCENE’s fandom is influencing consumer spending.

Retail companies have been running advertising campaigns featuring RESCENE in the second half of the year and seeing results. Dong-A Otsuka selected RESCENE as the brand model for its Narangd Cider brand in July. Through Oct. 26, sales of the brand had risen 51% from the same period last year. A Dong-A Otsuka official said, “RESCENE’s fandom is made up mainly of people in their 20s and 30s, so the response among those age groups seems to be good.”

Domino’s Pizza also selected RESCENE as its exclusive brand model in July and released an advertisement. The campaign made headlines after the video surpassed 17 million views on the group’s official YouTube channel in just four days. HOLLYS selected RESCENE as its first-ever brand model in August and has been running advertisements since that month.

Industry observers view this trend positively, noting that although companies set a target age group when launching products that use character IP, word of mouth can extend their reach to other age groups. However, since using IP inevitably involves costs, companies also carefully examine and analyze profitability and other factors compared with regular products to ensure the products generate returns.

An industry official said, “In RESCENE’s case, the group serves as a model with a fandom that has strong purchasing power and actively makes purchases, so it tends to have a direct impact on brand sales. Given the clear results we have seen, the launch of collaboration products that reliably drive sales like these is expected to continue for the time being.”

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