<Anchor> It is a
friendly economic time. Today (20th) will be with reporter Kim Hye-min. Hello, reporter Kim. The Starbucks giveaway event seems to have started this year as well. Adults, what the hell is that, and young people like that would be crazy about it, but it's always popular. Is it popular this year?
<Reporter>
This year, Starbucks is holding an event to give free gifts for collecting frequencies. I was at the store early in the morning of the first day of the event, and as soon as I opened the door, the number of customers ordering 17 drinks for takeout lined up.
I couldn't carry all that much coffee, so I ordered something like espresso and put it in a large thermos. Do you remember the ready bag rage last year?
At that time, there were people who ordered 300 cups of manufactured beverages at once to receive a free gift, and after taking only the gift, they threw away the drink.
This year, Starbucks has set a new policy to prevent this situation. One person can order up to 20 drinks at a time.
In addition, last year, there was a scene where people wait in line from dawn to receive free gifts, but this year, in order to prevent the spread of Corona 19, the gift was changed to be taken after reservation. In addition, it is said that the number of free gift reservations that can be made is also limited by period.
<anchor>
The reason Starbucks put these restrictions this year is because it is so popular that you can sell it again for more money if you receive a free gift and sell it again. How about this this year? Are you still selling so expensive?
<Reporter>
Even now, there is a huge number of articles saying that when you enter the carrot market, you can sell Starbucks gifts. At first, the sellers called the price up to 150,000 won, but now you can buy it for about 70 to 80,000 won.
Although Starbucks put a limit on the number of free gifts per person, there were some sellers who used all the names of their acquaintances to collect supplies.
As a result, it appears that despite Starbucks' efforts, it has not been able to prevent resellers from reselling free gifts.
Also, this time, some freebies were sold on the affiliate's online market, and the first sale was from 10 am on the 13th. It was an opportunity to buy a free gift at a reasonable price without having to buy all 17 drinks.
As soon as I started selling on the Internet, more than 10 times more customers than usual crowded at the same time, and this site even crashed. They all sold out in an hour.
The second sale will start again from 10 o'clock today, and it is expected that there will be a large crowd of people who want to buy free gifts this time.
<Anchor> It's a
free gift, but there are a lot of people really interested in paying money and buying it separately. Why are you so interested in it? Why do people in our country like this so much?
<Reporter>
Korea is the only country that holds frequency events. It is a unique marketing that has been underway only at Starbucks Korea since 2018.
In particular, the MZ generation has a great desire to consume limited edition products, and Starbucks gifts are limited in quantity, so their popularity is bound to increase.
It is also spreading in the form of overheating while adding resellers to this. Thanks to such free gift sales, Starbucks Korea is growing every year.
In the United States, the origin of Starbucks, the number of stores in the United States is being restructured to reduce by 400, but in Korea, the number of stores is increasing by about 10 per month.
In addition, as many people naturally flock to the building where Starbucks is built, there are many cases where the building owners ask for Starbucks to enter their building.
<Anchor>
Looking at it recently, there seem to be a lot of Starbucks around it. However, giving a gift like this means that in the end, you have to buy a drink and eat it. However, I think there may be criticisms such as buying a little too much drink to get a free gift, encouraging overconsumption.
<Reporter>
These days, not only Starbucks but also other coffee shops are holding similar events.
Some point out that consumers are so enthusiastic about the marketing of such goods that it leads to excessive consumption where they are spending money on places they don't need.
In addition, it is becoming a means for resellers to sweep away free gifts and to take their share, rather than giving gifts to real buyers.
For example, if you buy 5 Starbucks gift items worth 37,000 won on the online market and then sell them at the carrot market 60,000 won each, you will earn more than 110,000 won.
It also makes people flock to cafes even though the spread of Corona 19 is not declining.
For those who are collecting Frequency to receive a coffee specialty store gift, why don't you think about whether or not you are using the gift you've received so far, and where it is?