‘Trend Korea’ is a book series where professors of each field research and write the upcoming trends of Korea for the Consumption Trend Analysis Center of Seoul National University. The CBT figured out the future trends of Korea through ‘Trend Korea’.
  The keywords that ‘Trend Korea’ has suggested since 2007 consist of 10 letters relating to each year’s animal. The keyword of 2019, the Year of the Swine, is Piggy Dream.
  ‘P’ stands for ‘play the concept’. The development of SNS has changed many fields. The importance of concepts rather than marketing has grown for products. In the past, the public were addicted to concepts like ‘better’ and ‘cheaper’. In other words, the public took account of cost-effectiveness. ‘Trend Korea’ predicts that the public will tend to consume concepts like ‘special’ and ‘touching’ this year.
  ‘I’ stands for ‘invited to the cell market’. A seller understands consumer preferences, promoting products and selling products through personal media in the “cell market”. The reason why it is called a cell market is the markets are fragmented by these sellers, like a countless number of cells. In a cell market, sellers sell products directly through an online platform, such as SNS or blogs. Kim Ji-hyeon, who is a representative of Muchacha Mona on Style Window of Naver Shopping, said, “In respect to sellers, the advantage of the cell market is that sellers can begin the transaction with less burden and can lower labor costs. One advantage of the cell market is communicating with customers effectively.”
  ‘G’ stands for ‘going new-tro’. “New-tro” is a neologism combining “new” and “retro”. Retro appeals to consumers by reproducing the past. New-tro appeals to the novelty that an unfamiliar history provides. It is a critical point that people enjoy the past differently than those who lived it before. Daehak Naeil, a magazine which covers the trends of the 21st century, called this ‘nat seollem.’ In Korean, ‘nat seollem’ means a thrill that a strange experience provides. The box-office film ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ could be interpreted in the same vein. The number of audience members was almost 10 million in Korea. The primary audience was people in their twenties and thirties.
  The second ‘G’ stands for ‘green survival’. “Green survival” means consumption while thinking about the environment. Consumption while showing concern for the environment is a good habit. Now, it’s ‘green survival’ for our survival.
  ‘Y’ stands for ‘you are a proxy emotion’. In ‘Trend Korea 2019’, “proxy emotion” is the expression of an emotion on behalf of a person. Recently, the number of people who have difficulty expressing their emotions has increased gradually. Such people are called ‘digital natives’. Digital natives have been using digital devices since childhood. Moreover, they are afraid to make any new friends. Frequently using the emoticons in KakaoTalk and Facebook is a notable example of a proxy emotion.
  ‘D’ stands for ‘data intelligence’. Predictions about companies are based on data accumulated after understanding what consumers want and learning the lifestyles of the consumers rather than vaguely predicting the consumption behaviors of consumers. For example, Amazon connects the consumers to products by utilizing much data from consumers’ expressed opinions and previous decisions.
  ‘R’ stands for ‘rebirth of space’. Retail space can turn into a cafe, a bookstore or an exhibit hall. Offline areas don’t remain the same. Offline spaces change and evolve due to the influence of online commerce. Things that people can only experience offline are vital for the survival of offline stores.
  ‘E’ stands for ‘emerging millennial families’. Millennials were born in the early 1980s through the early 2000s. A millennial family refers to millennials who marry and start a family. They believe that effectiveness is better than perfection in family affairs. Due to this, the HMR market is growing rapidly. HMR stands for “home meal replacement”. The families think replacement meals are more effective and convenient than cooking.
  ‘A’ stands for ‘as being myself’. People who have self-love are called “Nanalanders” in ‘Trend Korea 2019’, and they live in “Nanaland”. In Korean, the “Na” of Nanaland and Nanalander mean “I”. They don’t compare themselves to others. They prioritize standards for themselves and their own perspectives over those of others. People buying products for themselves readily despite expense is a notable example.
  ‘M’ stands for ‘manners maketh the consumer’. The issue of gapjil became headline news again. Gapjil refers to people with power perpetrating unfair acts on their subordinates. A notable example was the “nut rage” incident in 2014. A more recent event was Yang Jin-ho, who is the president of K-technology.
  ‘Trend Korea 2019’ says, “The consumers adapt to changing social circumstances and seek a sense of identity and their own opinions.” The consumers continue to spread the SNS craze through the development of the cell market while Nanalanders discover their own identities and opinions.

By Park Jeong-min
jm38@cbnu.ac.kr