K-Pop, K-Cart, K-Ching!: How Zepto is "Korean Maxx-ing" India’s Shopping Habits

Highlights Korean culture is reshaping food, beauty, and fashion in India. K-drama moments are driving consumer cravings and purchases. Indian travelers now seek immersive experiences in South Korea. What began for many Indians as a fascination with K-dramas and K-pop has evolved into a broader lifestyle movement. Korean culture is increasingly influencing food, beauty, fashion, entertainment and tourism, creating new opportunities for brands to tap into a consumer interest that is no longer limited to what people watch. And the shift is showing up in some very real places including the shopping cart. On Zepto , Korean food is moving beyond niche curiosity, with ramen searches crossing 4.6 lakh and Korean noodle searches surpassing 1 lakh. Advt According to the 2025 Overseas Hallyu Survey, 84.5% of Indian respondents viewed Korean pop culture favourably. The momentum is particularly visible in beauty, with India's K-beauty market projected to reach $1.5 billion by 2030, according to research from Kindlife and Datum Intelligence. Together, these shifts point to something bigger. Hallyu is no longer simply content that consumers watch. It is becoming a culture they experience, participate in and increasingly buy into. When entertainment moves into the shopping cart For marketers, perhaps the most interesting part of the K-wave is how quickly entertainment can translate into consumption. A bowl of ramen featured in a K-drama can spark a craving. A character's skincare routine can trigger curiosity around an ingredient. A celebrity can make an unfamiliar product feel instantly relevant. Advt Quick-commerce has shortened the distance between that moment of discovery and the actual purchase. For platforms such as Zepto, this creates an opportunity to become part of the cultural journey rather than simply the place where the final transaction happens. Chandan Mendiratta, chief brand officer, Zepto, sees the growth of Korean categories as part of a larger cultural shift. Advt "When we started seeing Korean brands growing rapidly, it became clear that there was an underlying cultural shift happening. Korean food, music and entertainment were creating curiosity, and consumers were looking for ways to experience that culture beyond the screen," Mendiratta said. The relationship between content and commerce is becoming increasingly direct. Products that appear naturally within entertainment can move from being something consumers notice to something they actively seek out. Advt "K-pop and Korean dramas are almost acting as content marketing. Consumers see a product or a food in the content, develop an interest in it and then look for a way to experience it themselves," Mendiratta said. For brands, that changes the role of entertainment. It is no longer just about building awareness. It can create the initial spark that eventually leads to a search, a purchase or even a new habit. From K food to K beauty Food may be one of the most immediate expressions of Hallyu, but beauty is where the influence appears to be becoming more deeply embedded. K-beauty has introduced Indian consumers to a different approach to skincare, one centred around hydration, skin health, prevention and active ingredients. Terms such as glass skin, snail mucin and Centella Asiatica have moved from niche beauty conversations into the mainstream. Brands such as Laneige, COSRX, Beauty of Joseon, Innisfree and Round Lab have helped bring Korean formulations and skincare routines into the consideration set of Indian consumers. The same interest is visible in food, with brands such as Samyang, Nongshim and Bibigo becoming increasingly familiar to consumers looking to recreate the Korean food experience at home. But the appeal goes beyond individual products. Korean beauty has helped position skincare as a ritual and a form of self-care rather than simply a step before makeup. While aesthetics such as "glass skin" may have initially sparked curiosity, the more lasting influence is in how consumers think about ingredients, routines and long-term skin health. That is where the K-beauty influence becomes more interesting for marketers. Consumers are not just buying Korean products; they are increasingly adopting the routines and behaviours associated with them. Why Korea resonates with Indian audiences The success of Korean culture in India is not only about novelty. There is also a degree of familiarity beneath it. Mendiratta points to similarities between Korean and Indian social structures, particularly around family, academic pressure, achievement and expectations. "There are many things that feel familiar to an Indian viewer in Korean stories, family relationships, academic pressure, the importance of achievement and even the expectations that come with success. At the same time, the stories are presented in a way that feels fresh, aspirational and very different from what audiences are used to seeing," Mendiratta said. That combination may be one reason Korean content has travelled so effectively. The settings, fashion and lifestyles feel aspirational, but the emotional conflicts often feel familiar. For Indian audiences, Korea can therefore feel both new and strangely recognisable. And for brands, that creates an interesting cultural space: something can feel global and aspirational while still being emotionally familiar. From cultural trend to brand opportunity The company has increasingly used cultural moments to bring categories to life, including its Soul Street initiative, which brought elements of Seoul's food, culture and entertainment into physical experiences for Indian consumers. The thinking is to make the cultural trend tangible rather than simply advertise around it. "We don't look at these experiences only as events. They can become content platforms where creators participate, create stories around the experience and then take that content back to their own communities," Mendiratta said. That makes an offline activation more than a one day brand property. Creators become part of the experience, audiences generate their own content and the physical event continues to live across social platforms. There is also a role for collaboration. "When brands come together around a cultural moment, they can pool resources, bring in different audiences and create something that is much bigger than what any one brand could have built on its own," Mendiratta said. For marketers, this is where cultural relevance becomes commercially interesting. Instead of brands individually trying to manufacture attention, they can participate in an existing consumer interest and build experiences around it. When fandom becomes a travel plan The K-effect does not stop at the shopping cart. For a growing group of young Indian consumers, South Korea has moved from being the backdrop to their favourite shows to becoming a destination in its own right. Travel itineraries increasingly include Seoul neighbourhoods featured in dramas, K-pop concerts, food experiences, beauty treatments and filming locations. What starts with content can therefore travel much further from the screen to the cart and eventually to the airport. The journey is increasingly circular. Entertainment creates curiosity. Products allow consumers to experience a piece of the culture at home. Communities deepen the interest. And eventually, some consumers choose to experience the culture first-hand. What the K effect means for marketers The bigger lesson from Hallyu is that entertainment is becoming an increasingly powerful discovery layer for commerce. A show can introduce a cuisine. A celebrity can influence a skincare routine. A creator can turn curiosity into a purchase. An event can bring an online community into a physical space. And sustained fandom can eventually influence travel decisions. The opportunity for brands is therefore not simply to jump on the latest Korean trend. It is to understand why the culture is resonating in the first place. Hallyu works because consumers do not experience it as advertising. They experience it as entertainment, aspiration, community and identity. "The opportunity is not just to sell a product. It is to understand the cultural moment that is creating demand and then find a meaningful way for the brand to participate in that moment," Mendiratta said. For marketers, that may be the real K-effect: spotting the moment when something stops being content people watch and becomes a culture they want to live in. By Asiya Zaidi ETBrandEquity Published On Oct 6, 2026 at 09:05 AM IST Most Read in Marketing Campaigns don't build brands. People do. Can ice-cream brands stay premium as competition heats up? The Great Indian Festive Content Economy DigiPlus Fest 2026: ITC uses AI to reduce decision-making latency across marketing: Shuvadip Banerjee Join the community of 2M+ industry professionals. Subscribe to Newsletter to get latest insights & analysis in your inbox. All about ETBrandEquity industry right on your smartphone! Download the ETBrandEquity App and get the Realtime updates and Save your favourite articles.