韩国年轻消费商圈上半年烧酒和啤酒销售回升，HiteJinro称将加码年轻客群营销

Soju and beer sales grew in commercial districts popular with young drinkers even as overall alcohol consumption in South Korea slowed, HiteJinro said. Consumption is recovering fastest in areas built around outdoor drinking, including open-air street bars known as yajang and neighborhoods near universities.
HiteJinro said on the 28th that soju sales in Euljiro, Nagwon-dong and the area around Hansung University — districts known for their open-air street bars — rose 6.5% in the first six months of this year from a year earlier. Beer sales in those areas climbed about 9.1%. The gains widened in April, when outdoor activity picks up in earnest: soju sales in those districts jumped 19.6% and beer sales 29.9% from the same month a year earlier.
Sales also grew in Myeongdong and Seongsu, districts that draw both young Koreans and foreign tourists. Beer sales in those areas rose 7.8% in the first half from a year earlier. Around universities, drinking surged with the start of the semester and the spring festival season. Across 15 major university districts in Seoul, soju sales in March and April were up 20.4% from January and February, while beer sales rose 32.4%. The company attributed the concentration to a pickup in student gatherings after classes resumed, compounded by spring festivals.
HiteJinro has rolled out products and marketing aimed at younger drinkers in step with the trend. In January, it ran a campaign issuing mock "drinking-age licenses" to university freshmen who had become old enough to drink, across campus areas and major commercial districts nationwide. Timed to the new semester and the spring outing season, it launched a chocolate-cookie-flavored soju in March and a butter-flavored soju in May, building unconventional flavors favored by younger consumers into its lineup.
The company has also stepped up its presence at offline events such as university festivals and local gatherings. It sponsored spring festivals at major universities nationwide as well as the Centum Beer Festival and the Magok MCT Festival, expanding chances for consumers to encounter its brands directly. "Drinking culture has been shifting toward valuing the shared experience and the space more than the drink itself," a HiteJinro official said. "We will keep expanding products and experiential marketing tailored to changing consumer trends, broadening our points of contact with young consumers and adding vitality to the market."