(Lotte Wellfood)
South Korea’s leading confectionery giants are moving beyond traditional flavors like chocolate and strawberry and are introducing a wider variety of flavors, such as matcha and pistachio, to attract consumers.
According to the confectionery industry on Sunday, three major Korean snack companies – Lotte Wellfood Co., Orion Corp., and Crown Confectionery Co. – increased the number of new flavor variations under existing brands from 199 in 2020 to 283 in 2025.
The shift reflects a strategic move away from traditional staples toward trendy profiles like matcha and pistachio that mirror the domestic cafe scene.
Industry analysts say the approach is also tied to cost efficiency.
Launching a completely new brand requires substantial time as well as research, development, and marketing expenses. Instead, companies reduce costs by adding new flavors to already proven products. At the same time, this strategy encourages repeat purchases within the same product line and allows companies to quickly gauge market response, making it increasingly popular.
Lotte Wellfood has leaned heavily into the trend, with 66 percent of its new releases last year consisting of variations on existing snacks. Orion more than doubled its flavor count to 55 during the five-year period, while Crown Confectionery nearly tripled its output of product variations to 34.
Industry insiders noted that the single-product, multi-flavor approach has become a structural fixture in the market, providing a low-risk buffer against the saturation of the domestic snack industry.
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