Bunjang Announces K-Pop Merchandise Trading Trends

• ‘IVE’ and ‘NewJeans Limited Edition’ recorded the 1st place in the most searched volumes and the highest transaction volume categories, respectively.
• From January to August 2023, the search volume was highest in the order of IVE, Tomorrow X Together (TXT), NewJeans, Seventeen, and NCT, with ages of 10s and 20s users accounting for 71% of the total.
• The ‘LG gram NewJeans Limited Edition’ was sold at KRW 3.4 million (USD 2,600), recording the highest price in Bungaejangter K-pop merchandise in 2023.
• Bungaejangter’s personalized system and convenient delivery service as key growth contributors to becoming a ‘leading platform for K-pop merchandise’ and commits to discovering a variety of tastes.

SEOUL, South Korea–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#2023KpopMerchandiseTradingTrends—Bunjang (Bungaejangter Inc.) (co-CEOs John Kang and Jaewha Choi), Korea’s leading c2c secondhand marketplace platform, announced the trends in K-pop merchandise trading.

K-pop merchandise ranks second in Bunjang in terms of transaction volume, accounting for around 15% of all categories. At K-pop merchandise, you can trade a wide range of K-pop merchandise, from officially traded items such as photo cards and cheering light sticks for your favorite star to ‘unofficial goods’ made and sold in-person by fans.

According to the data related to K-pop merchandise trades from January to August 2023, the total transaction volume in the K-pop merchandise category was approx. USD 34 million, a 17% year-on-year increase, and the number of registered products surged by nearly 20%. During the same period, ages of 10s and 20s users accounted for 71% of all K-pop merchandise users, the greatest share of all age groups.

In terms of popular search terms during the above period, IVE ranked first, followed by TXT, NewJeans, Seventeen, and NCT. IVE recorded nearly twice the search volume compared to the second-place holder, TXT. In the midst of the popularity of fourth-generation idols, Seventeen and NCT, which had ranked third and fifth, respectively, in terms of the number of transactions in the 2020 statistics, also remained high in search volume in 2023.

The ‘star’ whose item was traded at the highest price was NewJeans, a girl group from HYBE that debuted in July 2022. The ‘LG gram NewJeans Limited Edition’, which was launched in February by LG Electronics in collaboration with NewJeans, was sold for KRW 3.4 million (USD 2,600).

In response to the continued increase in new overseas users, Bunjang provides a global service that allows people to purchase K-pop merchandise quickly and conveniently, even in foreign countries. Foreign users can trade numerous K-pop merchandise being registered in real time on Bunjang at a reasonable price and with peace of mind thanks to prior inspection before overseas delivery. Furthermore, the shopping cart-based bulk shipping capability helps cut overseas shipping expenses.

Yurim Kim, PR manager at Bunjang, said, “In the era of Fan Economy, where fan culture has become popular, Bunjang has emerged as a center of K-pop merchandise by capitalizing on its customized system and convenient delivery service as the driving forces. Bunjang will continue to improve its services to create a convenient secondhand trading environment and assist consumers in discovering their own preferences.”

About Bunjang (Bungaejangter Inc.)

Bunjang (Bungaejangter Inc.) is Korea’s leading c2c secondhand marketplace platform, launched in 2011. More information about Bunjang is available at https://bgzt.co.kr/, and global services are available at https://globalbunjang.com.

Contacts

Bunjang (Bungaejangter Inc.)

Yurim Kim

rim.kim@bunjang.co.kr