Lotte’s soju team applauded as MZers bedazzled by sugar-free Saero

Young consumers, dubbed millennials and Gen Zers, are by nature conscious of fleeting fads.

These days, one of the hottest trends in South Korea is healthy pleasure, managing health and enjoying fun at the same time.

The alcoholic beverage industry is no exception and no other Korean company is more driven home to this point than Lotte Group. Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co.'s soju development team last year unveiled a sugar-free soju, Chum Churum Saero, which on its release became an instant hit across Korea.

In recognition of their reading into the minds of young consumers, the team’s business model staffers on Friday received the top prize at Lotte Group’s annual Lotte Awards 2023.

“We experienced many changes and challenges over the past year. But we found a new market through innovative ideas and created differentiated brand value,” Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin said at the award ceremony, granting the top prize to the soju development team, which is one of six teams across group subsidiaries recognized for enhancing Lotte’s brand value in 2022.

OLD-SCHOOL KOREAN VODKA? NO MORE

Soju, often called Korean vodka because of its strong alcohol content, has been shunned by young people, collectively known as MZers, who prefer flavorful alcohol over hard liquor.

In recent years, however, the clear, colorless distilled Korean firewater has been gaining popularity even among young consumers, captivated by new kinds of soju with a variety of fruit flavors and lower alcohol content than traditional soju.

Targeting the new breed of young consumers seeking healthy pleasure, Lotte Chilsung last year developed a new soju for the first time in 16 years.

Unlike conventional soju products, Saero has an alternative sweetener in lieu of fructose and creates a unique taste through the addition of a small amount of distilled soju.

Under the Chum Churum brand, which Lotte introduced in 2006, Saero saw sales of 100 million 360-milliliter bottles in the first seven months since the September launch.

“About 43 million adults in our country drank an average of 2.3 Saero bottles each over the seven-month period,” said a Lotte official.

Lotte’s bigger rival and Korea’s top alcoholic beverage maker HiteJinro Co. had to undergo a renewal by launching a sugar-free soju early this year in response to the zero-sugar boom.

Lotte leader Shin applauded its soju team for leading the trend of unsweetened soju in Korea.

Lotte Chilsung Beverage said it plans to expand its Saero product lineup by launching next month a large 640-ml version in a plastic bottle.

Other Lotte Group affiliates that received Lotte Awards on Friday include Lotte Mart Co. for pioneering the domestic wine curation market with its wine specialty shop Bottle Bunker; Lotte Wellfood Co. for expanding Korea’s unsweetened dessert market; Lotte Home Shopping Inc. for successfully launching its character teddy bear Bellygom; Lotte Chemical Corp. for developing hydrogen tanks with its own technology; and Lotte Moolsan Co., a general trading firm, for improving water quality at Seokchon Lake near Lotte’s headquarters building in Seoul.

Write to Hun-Hyoung Ha at hhh@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.