Ice cream makers seek summer rebound with healthier products and revamped classics

Ice cream makers are hoping this summer will melt sluggish sales away, banking on an early heat wave and innovative new products to win back consumers.

Lotte Wellfood's ice cream sales rose around 10 percent in June from a year earlier, the company said earlier this week. Ice cream sales at convenience store chain GS25 jumped 31.3 percent during the same period, while CU and 7-Eleven reported increases of 11.1 percent and 10 percent respectively.

The rebound comes after years of contraction in the ice cream market.

The domestic retail ice cream market was valued at 1.41 trillion won ($905 billion) last year, down nearly 30 percent compared to 2.02 trillion won in 2015, according to data from the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT).

Lotte Wellfood's ice cream sales fell 0.5 percent on year to 607.1 billion won last year. Binggrae, which generates more than half of its revenue from ice cream, saw operating profit decline 32.7 percent to 88.3 billion won during the same period.

Industry officials attribute the slowdown to Korea's falling birthrate, which has reduced the number of children — the core consumer base for ice cream — as well as changing consumption patterns. Consumers are also increasingly turning to iced Americanos and bingsu, Korean shaved ice, to beat the heat instead of ice cream.

The spread of the "healthy pleasure" trend, in which consumers seek both health and enjoyment, has also led more people to avoid high-sugar ice cream.

In response, manufacturers have begun introducing healthier options.

Binggrae launched a low-sugar version of its Summer Crush ice cream bar, made with decaffeinated coffee, in March. It also launched a low-sugar version of its fish-shaped Samanco red-bean ice cream sandwich in June.

Companies are also revamping longtime bestsellers instead of relying solely on new launches.

Lotte Wellfood introduced a monaka wafer version of its iconic Dweji Bar ice cream in April, celebrating the 43rd anniversary of the product's release. It also operated a pop-up store last month to promote the product to younger consumers.

Lotte Wellfood also redesigned the packaging of its pouch-style milkshake ice cream Seoleim, reducing the icy cold sensation consumers feel while holding the product by by 48 percent compared with the previous design, according to the company. The new package creates an air layer between the inner and outer packaging that is filled with nitrogen to reduce the transfer of cold.

Both companies are also looking overseas for future growth.

Binggrae exports products including Melona to more than 30 countries, including the United States and those in Europe. Lotte Wellfood is also seeing growing ice cream sales in markets including India.

Convenience store chains are also hoping to attract customers with unexpected collaborations.

CU recently launched an ice cream shaped like the cooling T-shirt sold by outdoor apparel brand Eider. GS25 partnered with Hyundai Motor to release an ice cream sandwich that comes with stickers of Hyundai cars.

7-Eleven plans to launch a chicken-shaped ice cream on July 9 in collaboration with food company Harim's Mexicana Chicken brand.

Sales of such collaboration ice cream products posted double-digit growth in June from a year earlier, convenience store operators said.

"MZ Generation [Millennial and Gen-Z] consumers value not only taste and price, but also new experiences, compelling stories and products worth sharing on social media," said Lee Ha-rim, a dessert merchandise planner at GS Retail, which operates GS25.

BY LIM SUN-YOUNG [[email protected]]