April 20, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Major South Korean discount retailers saw their sales edge up 1.8 percent last year to exceed 40 trillion won (US$35.3 billion) for the first time ever, industry data showed on May 9.

According to the data, the combined revenues of E-mart, the country’s top discount chain operated by retail conglomerate Shinsegae, and others reached 40.1 trillion won last year, compared with 39.4 trillion won a year earlier.

E-mart launched the country‘s first big discount store in 1993, with Homeplus, Lotte Mart and other players following suit.

The country’s big retailers have seen stellar performance in the 2000s on the back of a sharp rise in new outlets and diversified services. But coming into the 2010s, the chains struggled to stay afloat as policy measures aimed at protecting mom-and-pop stores as well as lackluster economic growth squeezed their sales.

Recently, they have suffered sluggish sales growth due to slower-than-expected economic recovery and a government policy that bans conglomerate-run discount chains from operating on certain weekends.

By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)