SSG.com and E-Mart 24 are also good at consolidating sales of 20 trillion won.
Source: https://www.sedaily.com/NewsView/22H8OGUM30/GD01
E-Mart surpassed 15 trillion won in annual sales on a separate basis for the first time in history last year despite the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19). This is thanks to a sharp increase in demand for food and daily necessities while increasing social distancing for COVID-19 prevention, increasing the amount of time to stay at home and refraining from eating out. In particular, the improvement of the constitution of the existing store, which chose to renew the existing store instead of closing it to strengthen offline competitiveness, was shining. As a result of the renewal of all nine stores, including the Wolgye branch in Seoul last year, the sales growth rate of existing stores in the discount store sector turned to positive after three years. Major subsidiaries, SSG.com and convenience store E-Mart 24, are also performing well, increasing the possibility of surpassing KRW 20 trillion in consolidated sales for the first time in Changsha.
[금융경제신문=한주경 기자] E-Mart announced on the 13th that its total sales from January to December of last year recorded 15,535.4 billion won on a separate basis. This is a 5.9% increase from the total sales of 14,673 billion won in 2019, as well as a figure that far exceeds the target of 15.31 trillion won, which was set earlier last year. By business, discount store sales increased 1.7%, while warehouse mart Traders and specialty stores increased 23.9% and 15%, respectively.
As the number of visitors to hypermarkets declined due to the spread of Corona 19 last year, it is expected that E-Mart sales will inevitably decline, but it is evaluated that Corona 19 has served as a good news. This is because, as the Corona 19 incident prolonged for more than a year, the demand for shopping at hypermarkets increased as the food service increased. Thanks to this, the actual E-Mart sales increased positively compared to the same period last year, except in February, which was the beginning of the corona 19 spread. An E-Mart official explained, “As the number of home meals increased, we bought a lot of ingredients, and as the time at home increased, we also bought home appliances and furniture.”
In addition, the renewal of existing stores in the discount store division, which E-Mart started in earnest from the beginning of last year, had a big impact on sales improvement. CEO Kang Hee-seok, who was recruited as the head of E-Mart at the beginning of last year, began to improve its constitution by regaining food competitiveness, which is E-Mart’s strength, and reorganizing non-food products through MD specialization. Accordingly, E-Mart has undergone a total renewal of 9 stores nationwide, starting with Wolgye in June of last year. As a result, the sales growth rate of existing stores in the discount store sector last year was 1.4%, and it succeeded in converting to a positive after three years after 2017. In particular, the existing store growth rate reached 9.8% in December, when all five stores were renewed. An official from E-Mart said, “Wolgye branch is recording sales growth of more than double digits every month after renewal,” and said, “We plan to continue our strategy to improve the constitution that takes advantage of the strengths of offline stores this year.”
In addition to E-Mart discount stores, traders, a warehouse mart, were also active. Traders saw a 23.9% increase in sales last year as the demand for large-capacity purchases at once instead of reducing the number of shopping with Corona 19 increased. This is the result of igniting marketing by offering a variety of services such as coffee subscription tickets at a price competitiveness that is 8-15% cheaper than discount stores. E-Mart plans to open a new traders store this year, starting with the Busan store.
As E-Mart meets last year’s earnings targets on a separate basis, expectations are growing for its first-ever sales of 20 trillion won, the consolidated earnings target. This is because SSG.com’s sales surged on the rise of E-Mart as well as online shopping, and E-Mart 24, a convenience store, is also narrowing its deficit by surpassing 5,000 stores. An official in the industry said, “Shinsegae Food and Chosun Hotels & Resorts are still insolvent subsidiaries, but in Corona 19, E-Mart and major subsidiaries are doing well, so there is a high possibility of improving performance.”
Reporter Han Ju-kyung [email protected]
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