The Hidden Cost of Ice Cream Sales: When Supply Chains Collapse
During peak summer heat, most people assume ice cream sales will soar. But in 2024, Korea’s ice cream market experienced a dramatic 35% drop in sales. This isn’t just a shift in consumer preferences — it’s a result of supply chain and distribution failures. This blog takes a closer look at how broken logistics and shelving strategies are keeping ice cream out of consumers' hands at the very moment it's most in demand.
1. Cold Chain Logistics: The Invisible Weakness
Ice cream depends entirely on consistent freezing from factory to shelf. When summer heat intensifies, cold trucks are overbooked and store freezers exceed capacity. As a result, many retailers have reduced or suspended restocking ice cream products altogether.
2. Inflexible Distribution Systems
Most ice cream supply chains operate on fixed delivery schedules, leaving little room to respond to temperature shifts, local demand, or real-time sales data. This leads to out-of-stock situations in some regions and overstocking in others, damaging both customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
3. Losing Shelf Priority to Cold Drinks
Retailers favor easy-to-store, fast-moving refrigerated beverages. Ice cream, with its high spoilage risk and lower turnover, is increasingly being pushed out of freezer space. Convenience stores, in particular, are replacing ice cream SKUs with drinks that guarantee stable margins.
4. It’s Not That Consumers Don’t Want Ice Cream — They Can’t Find It
Many frustrated consumers report “not finding the ice cream they wanted.” In most cases, the issue isn’t a lack of demand — it’s a supply-side breakdown that blocks even strong purchase intent from converting into sales. This is a hidden form of revenue loss.
5. Real Change Starts with Logistics
To reclaim dominance in summer markets, brands must move beyond promotions and ads. The solution lies in modern cold chain upgrades, AI-driven inventory forecasting, and dynamic, localized restocking strategies. Market share belongs to the brand that can get product to shelf reliably and on time.
Conclusion: Heat Isn’t Enough — Logistics Is the True Battleground
Record-breaking temperatures alone won't guarantee ice cream sales. Disconnected cold chains, late deliveries, and limited shelf space are the real obstacles. Without structural reforms in supply chain systems, ice cream brands risk disappearing from the market in the one season they should dominate.