Domestic convenience store sales rose year over year for three straight months. Analysts said sales at convenience stores that accept the government-issued consumption coupons likely increased thanks to the program. Among convenience store categories, sales of ready-to-eat foods and cigarettes increased.
According to the Major retail sales trends for September released by the Ministry of Trade on the 29th, offline retail sales fell 1% from a year earlier last month, while online sales rose 16.5%.
Offline, department stores (4.8%) and convenience stores (0.9%) saw sales increase. In contrast, sales at hypermarkets and super-supermarkets fell 11.7% and 0.2%, respectively.
A Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) official said, "Convenience store sales grew for three consecutive months thanks to the consumption coupons," and noted, "Sales expanded mainly in other categories such as ready-to-eat foods and cigarettes." According to category sales data for convenience stores in September, sales of ready-to-eat foods increased 6.3% from a year earlier, and sales of other non-food items such as cigarettes rose 1.8%.
Hypermarket sales fell sharply. Due to a balloon effect from issuing the consumption coupons, sales decreased at hypermarkets where the coupons cannot be used. Last year, the Chuseok holiday was in September, but this year it was pushed to October, which appears to have reduced holiday table-setting expense and affected sales.
The number of offline stores grew year over year for super-supermarkets (2.7%), while hypermarkets (-1.3%), department stores (-3.4%), and convenience stores (-1.7%) declined. Sales per store increased at department stores (8.6%) and convenience stores (2.6%), but fell at hypermarkets (-10.5%) and super-supermarkets (-2.9%).