Pokemon transit cards sell out in days as franchise fever grips Korea's retail sector

Pokemon transit cards released at convenience stores are selling out almost as fast as they hit shelves, with retailers across the industry leaning into Pokemon intellectual property collaborations and reaping the rewards in higher sales.

According to industry sources, convenience store chain CU on Friday launched three keyring-style EZL transit cards — featuring Pikachu, Ditto and Magikarp — exclusively through its "Pocket CU" app's weekly pop-up event to mark Pokemon's 30th anniversary. Although the weekly pop-up format runs for up to a week, the cards sold out in two days, forcing an early close.

CU's total transit card sales on Wednesday jumped 150.4 percent compared with the same day the previous week. A CU official said the chain plans to expand sales to physical stores to sustain the product's momentum and will release additional keyring-style transit cards featuring other Pokemon characters.

A separate set of 30 standard-format EZL Pokemon transit cards has also gone on sale at all major convenience store chains — CU, GS25, Seven-Eleven and E-mart24. The cards are distributed randomly inside each pack, and most stores have already sold out.

GS25 said the sell-through rate reached 80 percent on Thursday, the first day of sales. "Pokemon transit card" topped the search rankings on the chain's "Our Neighborhood GS" app. The cards are also changing hands briskly on secondhand platforms such as Karrot, with popular cards like Pikachu selling for 25,000 won ($17) — five times the original retail price.

Retailers have been aggressively pursuing Pokemon tie-ups this year to mark the franchise's 30th anniversary. Four Pokemon card pack varieties that CU launched in May sold 250,000 units in the first three days, clearing 96 percent of the initial stock. Demand was particularly strong among the MZ generation. An analysis of customers who bought character merchandise during that period found that those in their 20s accounted for 33.1 percent of purchases, those in their 30s for 28.3 percent, and teenagers for 23.5 percent.

GS25 began carrying Pokemon cards in 2024 and has stepped up its offerings this year. The chain has released Pokemon cards in 13 separate batches so far this year, with nearly all stock selling out early each time. Cumulative Pokemon card sales through Thursday were seven times higher than in the same period last year.

Samlip's "Pokemon Bread" series, launched in May, sold more than 10 million units in roughly 50 days. That is more than seven times the average first-run sales for a new Samlip bread product. Existing Pokemon bread lines also saw average sales rise 1.5 times after the company added 30th-anniversary peel-and-stick collectible stickers to the packaging. The inclusion of stickers featuring original Pokemon illustrations — boosting their collectible appeal — proved to be a key driver of the surge.

Pokemon has cemented its status as one of retail's most attractive intellectual properties, drawing fans across generations and genders. A 30th-anniversary event called "Pokemon Monster Mega Festa," held in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, in May, drew roughly 160,000 visitors — enough to force organizers to suspend the event.

An industry official said Pokemon "has become a core content that draws customers in, going beyond a simple marketing element," adding that the franchise "has been a huge boost to sales" and that the company plans to pursue further character IP collaborations going forward.