Many female students usually expect bargain sales on cosmetics brands. Lots of university students prefer low-cost stores such as Juicy, a franchise which sells fresh fruit juice at a low price, or 39pocha, a low-end pub. Nowadays, the trend where people are considering cost-effectiveness is increasing and people think this tendency is great.
  Several years ago, changes started in cafes, bars and pubs, which are usually known for selling expensive brands. In Korea, Juicy, which opened in 2010, was the first cheap fresh juice store. Juicy emphasized cost reduction, yet it sells real fresh fruits. They sell medium-size juices at 1,500 won and large-size juices at 2,000 won. Considering that the price of giant franchise cafes’ coffees ranged from 5,000 to 6,000 won, the price difference is more remarkable. Pubs also have changed. 39pocha, which is named that because they sell bar snacks for 3,900 won, was acknowledged as a new franchise brand in October 2015. 39pocha has kept on prospering, opening its 100th store and making house brands such as 29pocha and 38pocha.
  Furthermore, supplementary batteries of Xiaomi have become popular recently, and the sales volume of cheap clothes, such as Dongdaemun Market or lesser-known fashion brands, has increased. Moreover, the group-buying culture has spread, which decreases the costs for many people by buying lots of goods in bulk. These prove that people’s preferences for low prices have increased in various categories.
  Yu Hyeon-jeong, a professor of Dept. of Consumer Studies, analyzed the consumer consumption patterns and said, “Recent consumers are very smart and use information properly. As the information society has been rapidly progressing since the late 1990s, people have lots of knowledge compared to the previous generations. However, it is true that because of the slow growth of the economy, their financial statements are not in good condition.” She also talked about the influences of these phenomena. “The contradiction between using information well and the lack of money has led to a new consumption trend of spending money pragmatically, economically and rationally. Due to the decline of their disposable incomes, many people tend to shop frugally and buy products which have both a low price and a good quality, and by this expectation, various cheap items have come out.”
  She added about the new consumer trends, “As consumers are becoming smarter, the price bubble has been burst because companies are trying to sell cost-effective products. I think that an increase of inexpensive goods is desirable if it is based on wise consumption.”
  However, there are some cautions when buying inexpensive stuff. Choi Eun-sol(’14, Dept. of Philosophy) said, “I traveled to Indonesia last year. They were selling chocolates and unique crackers at a very low price. I bought lots of crackers, but I haven’t eaten them all. I think these cases are common around us.” Buying more things than required can bring us problems like wasting resources and destroying the environment. Furthermore, if the trend of seeking cheap products grows, the problem of making low quality products may happen to reduce the unit cost of production.
  Consumers and the market influence each other. It is expected that this new trend in Korea’s market will lead more consumers to desirable ways of consumption.

By Shin So-hyeon
 sh36@cbnu.ac.kr