Convenience Stores Gain at Expense of Supermarkets
17 February, 2020
Convenience stores, which have been treated as minor players in the retail market, are rapidly increasing their clout as sales soar.
The latest figures show convenience stores earning a lot more than supermarkets last year.
Convenience store chain GS25 achieved an operating profit of W256.5 billion this past year, up 33.5 percent from 2018 (US$1=W1,183). At CU, another major chain, operating profit rose 3.7 percent to W196.6 billion.
But supermarkets fared poorly. E-Mart's operating profit plummeted 67.4 percent to only W150.7 billion. Lotte Mart suffered a W25 billion operating loss this past year compared to an W8 billion operating profit in 2018.
One industry insider said, "The majority of sales is shifting from offline to online stores and large retailers are competing intensively with e-commerce companies, while nimble convenience store operators move quickly to use the situation to their advantage."
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