On March 8 last year, Chung Yong-jin, chairman of Shinsegae Group, was promoted and stated that this year marks the beginning of a major restart of the group's growth as he enters his first anniversary in office.
According to Shinsegae Group on the 5th, the growth strategy envisioned by Chairman Chung is broadly divided into 'two tracks.' Leading subsidiaries such as Emart and Starbucks aim to leap toward achieving a market dominance that competitors cannot rival. Meanwhile, business units that focused on reducing last year's weaker elements, such as e-commerce and construction, have set a goal to achieve complete management normalization this year and lay a solid foundation for growth.
Last month, Chairman Chung purchased 10% equity in Emart, previously held by Lee Myung-hee, chairman of Shinsegae Group. The company explained that this demonstrates a commitment to responsible management and confidence in improving performance.
◇Emart to open 3 stores this year... Starbucks to establish over 100 locations
Emart will open the Emart Food Market Godeok store during the first half of the year, following the recent opening of the Magok store last month. In the second half, the warehouse-type discount store Traders Guwol (Incheon) will commence operations. This means three additional stores will be introduced in the core metropolitan area.
Furthermore, Emart plans to open at least 3 new stores by the year 2027. Many of these will be conceived as warehouse-type discount stores under the Traders brand. Traders, which Shinsegae Group first launched in 2010, currently holds the top spot in the number of warehouse-type discount store outlets in the country.
The number of Emart stores, including Traders, peaked at 160 in 2020 and declined until last year. Chairman Chung and the management team have completed the establishment of a system for efficient store operation and plan to resume external growth starting this year.
Emart Everyday, which merged with Emart last July, will also open over 20 franchise stores this year. In addition to external growth, there will be efforts to solidify the company through improved revenue. To this end, they plan to increase differentiated stores such as food markets specialized in groceries while pursuing a synergy of integrated purchasing that encompasses Emart, Emart Everyday, and Traders.
Chairman Chung said, "As the economy is bad and market conditions are chaotic, we must strengthen our core competitiveness to cultivate overwhelming dominance that competitors cannot rival."
Starbucks, which surpassed 3 trillion won in sales last year, continues to expand its dominance. Starbucks ranks as the third largest in terms of revenue within the group, following Emart and Shinsegae Department Store. The company plans to open over 100 new stores this year and continues to expand special stores located in 11 beautiful spots, such as Jeju and Uiam Lake.
◇SSG.com and Gmarket on track... revenue improvement and strengthening logistics competitiveness
Chairman Chung expressed his ambition to establish a foundation for renewed growth this year for business units that required recovery, such as e-commerce platforms SSG.com and Gmarket, as well as Shinsegae Engineering & Construction.
SSG.com is accelerating revenue improvement and strengthening logistics competitiveness. It is rapidly expanding its delivery coverage using over 700 logistics infrastructures owned by CJ Logistics. Last December, it began dawn deliveries in the Chungcheong region, and from last month, it has broadened its service area to Busan and Daegu.
Gmarket is establishing a joint venture with Alibaba International to create synergies with its global platform. Currently, a corporate merger notification for the establishment of the joint venture has been submitted to the Fair Trade Commission, and once the commission's review is completed and court approval for the in-kind investment is obtained, the joint venture will be finalized.
Shinsegae Engineering & Construction aims to establish a more efficient management decision-making system following its delisting last month and to expedite the implementation of its mid- to long-term business portfolio strategy. The convenience store Emart24 plans to continue its revenue improvement trend by leveraging the 'NOBLAND' brand, which embodies the core competitiveness of Shinsegae Group.
Chairman Chung stated, "To overcome challenging situations, innovative thinking that overturns fixed concepts is necessary, and particularly, proactive collaboration with external parties can act as a catalyst for changing the flow of the market."
Shinsegae Group intends to maintain its performance-based personnel policy. Following his assumption of the chairmanship, Chairman Chung executed bold and prompt personnel changes, breaking away from past practices, which led to performance improvements.
Chairman Chung noted, "To enhance the group's intrinsic value of customer satisfaction and accelerate growth, personnel decisions based on fairness and merit are essential," adding, "We will provide appropriate rewards to organizational members who deliver results through change and challenges and continue to encourage innovation."