Food and Drink Internet Retailing in South Korea

PROSPECTS

Food and drink category is growing the fastest within internet retailing

Food and drink internet retailing is performing very well in South Korea and becoming a main growth driver to lead internet retailing channel growth. As single-person households are rapidly growing, sales of ready meals and meals that can reduce cooking time and make the cooking process simple are increasing very rapidly in the country.

Hypermarket and supermarket players are developing online grocery channel

Hypermarkets and supermarkets are investing more into their online channels. As supermarkets and hypermarkets already have well-developed delivery systems for their customers, they have actively adopted and launched internet retailing platforms for online purchases.

Food and drink specialist online retailers are growing rapidly

Since food and drink are key items for many internet retailers, food and drink specialist online channels have appeared and are becoming more popular in South Korea. Market Kurly, which sells food items ranging from premium and organic fresh food to various types of ready meals and smaller portions of food to target single-person households, has recorded triple-digit growth every year since it was launched in 2015.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Many retailers are enlarging the food and drink category

Many online shopping malls including Coupang and G Market are improving the food and drink category in their shopping malls; as the channel is growing faster than internet retailing overall, many operators are entering it. Previously fresh foods were not appropriate for internet retailing, as they would have taken several days to be delivered and many consumers were concerned about freshness.

Delivery service is a key for food and drink internet retailing

For food and drinks internet retailing, proper and fast delivery service is very important; therefore, many players are actively introducing competitive delivery systems. E-Mart’s SSG delivery service is increasingly popular, as consumers choose the time they prefer to have their order delivered within 24 hours.

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