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‘Fill-a-Bag’ Promotion in South Korea Encourages Purchase of U.S. Beef

Published: Nov 12, 2020

Working to reach consumers in South Korea who are active in social media but do not shop online, USMEF teamed with E-Mart for a retail promotion that offered an opportunity to select portion-controlled U.S. beef steaks and pay a flat rate for a bag filled with products. Funded by the Beef Checkoff Program, the goal of the “U.S. Beef Steak Fill-a-Bag” promotion was to provide Koreans a restaurant-quality steak experience at home.

Korean consumers paid a flat rate for a bag full of U.S. beef steaks in this retail promotion with 141 outlets of E-Mart

“Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, grocery shopping in Korea – both online and offline – has dramatically increased due to social distancing restrictions that encourages people to stay home,” explained Jihae Yang, USMEF director in South Korea. Koreans are looking for new items and new ideas for dishes at home. This has been a great opportunity for USMEF to get more Koreans to try cooking U.S. beef.”

In this week-long retail promotion, USMEF partnered with E-Mart, a leading hypermarket chain that operates 141 stores across Korea. USMEF utilized social media to advertise the promotion, which featured three quick-frozen U.S. beef chuck items – chuck eye roll, top blade and chuck flap tail. Consumers were able to select and fill a bag with a pack eight portion-controlled cuts for 19,800 won ($17 U.S.).

USMEF used social media platforms to attract Korean consumers to the U.S. Beef Steak Fill-a-Bag promotion

“It provided a fun shopping experience while also giving consumers a choice of cuts,” said Yang. “More importantly, we were able to reach consumers who have not gotten involved in e-commerce. Meat sales through e-commerce have increased significantly due to COVID-19, but retail stores still need to attract other types of consumers, too. This activity was so successful that E-Mart is planning on expanding the effort.”

USMEF also uploaded a video explaining the promotion on Facebook and Instagram. The posting on Facebook earned nearly 1,000 engagements while posting on Instagram earned more than 900 engagements and reached more than 200,000 visitors.