"Sanitary pads are expensive": After one remark from the President, retailers rush into discount war [Issue Analysis]

According to Financial News, after President Lee Jae-myung of South Korea recently remarked that "sanitary pads are expensive," discount events on sanitary pads have been spreading rapidly across the retail industry. Major channels including big-box supermarkets, convenience stores, and e-commerce platforms are simultaneously rolling out promotions offering discounts of up to 40–70%, which many inside and outside the industry interpret as an "immediate response" to the policy message.
According to the retail sector on the 22nd, Coupang was the first to launch a discount campaign, sharply cutting prices on some sanitary pad products right after the President’s comment. CPLB, Coupang’s private-brand (PB) subsidiary, has been selling its sanitary pad PB brand "Lunami" at prices up to 29% lower since the 1st of this month. Among large supermarket chains, Emart is running a promotion through the 25th, selling about 50 types of sanitary pads at uniform prices. CU convenience store, operated by BGF Retail, is offering discounts of up to 73% on sanitary pads through an ultra-low-price daily necessities event running until the end of this month.
Within the industry, many say the rapid spread of these discounts has largely been triggered by the President’s remarks. A representative of a major supermarket said, "If the President had not made that comment, it is unlikely that manufacturers would have moved to such a large-scale discount," adding, "Sanitary pads are supplied through a structure in which manufacturers set the prices and terms for distribution, so this trend is closer to a preemptive response by the manufacturers."
The structure of promotional cost-sharing also appears to have contributed to the deeper discounts seen after the President’s statement. Normally, manufacturers and retailers split the cost of sanitary pad promotions roughly in half. However, in a situation where the policy message is clear, retailers are increasingly willing to shoulder a larger share of the burden. Coupang is covering 100% of the costs for the current discounts. A Coupang official stated, "It is hard to view this purely as a marketing move. It is part of our effort to contribute to price stability in line with the government’s policy direction."
Sanitary pads are not a discretionary purchase but an essential consumer good, so shoppers are highly sensitive to price changes. Because they have long been a representative "symbolic item" at the center of recurring price controversies raised by politicians and civic groups, analysts say the government’s public remarks likely placed considerable pressure on the market. A retail industry official noted, "Because retailers do not control the wholesale prices, it is difficult for them to significantly cut prices on their own," and added, "Once the government publicly raised the issue, manufacturers had little choice but to respond to some extent." The official went on to say, "This trend of price cuts is likely to continue for some time."
Some in the industry, however, point out that sanitary pads are a category where buy-one-get-one-free and similar promotions typically recur every six to eight weeks, so evaluating prices based only on the regular sticker price does not fully reflect reality. An industry source commented, "You need to look at promotional prices or the average annual unit price to accurately compare what consumers actually feel they are paying."
clean@fnnews.com Lee Jeong-hwa Reporter