As the domestic ready-to-eat meal (HMR) market is expected to exceed 7 trillion won this year, consumer trends are also shifting. Purchase decisions are increasingly centered on cooking convenience and price competitiveness.
According to the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI)'s 2025 Food Consumption Behavior Survey, the top reason for buying ready-to-eat meals was convenience at 43.1%, followed by lower cost compared with buying ingredients and cooking at 31.8%. On the other hand, the biggest reason for not buying them was that they were too expensive, at 37.9%. The survey also found that, as the quality of ready-to-eat meals has improved overall, the share of households that do not buy them because they are not tasty fell from 23.2% in 2021 to 12.7% in 2025.
In response to these changing consumption trends, SSG.COM is launching a new curation project. The company plans to carefully select and introduce products that offer strong value and cooking convenience, while also developing exclusive items to further strengthen its ready-to-eat meal competitiveness.
First, SSG.COM will fully roll out its 'Ultra-Easy Home Meal Project,' which links ready-to-eat meal promotions, short-form content and exclusive product development. The key is to select representative products based on price competitiveness, cooking convenience and taste, and introduce them every two weeks.
For each round, the company will unveil 'Quick Recipe,' a short-form video under one minute that introduces the featured product, along with items that pair well with it and cooking methods using those products. It also plans to work with E-Mart to develop differentiated products that improve price, quality and cooking convenience, while launching food items that reflect current trends.
SSG.COM tested the project twice over four weeks starting on the 25th of last month and confirmed related demand.
As the project’s first product, the meal bread 'Slab Bread,' introduced with Not_found, took first place in bakery category sales during the promotion period, thanks to its large 600g size and reasonable promotional price in the 7,000-won range. Sales of 'Charcoal-Grilled Seasoned Chicken,' developed with Hoolala Charcoal Chicken with a focus on cooking convenience, surged tenfold compared with the same period before the event. As a featured product in the event running through the 8th of next month, the company will also present galbitang from Samiheon, a Busan Korean restaurant with 27 years of tradition.
An SSG.COM official said, "Following the 'Ultra-Fresh Discovery Project,' which introduces seasonal foods, we have expanded our curation range to include ready-to-eat meals as well," adding, "We plan to enhance our grocery-shopping competitiveness by focusing on products, content and price as our core pillars."
Kim So-hyung, compact@sportschosun.com
