It is no longer unusual to hear the upbeat prompt "Your delivery order has been received" not only in restaurants but also in convenience stores. Delivery that used to take two to three days has been shortened to next-day and dawn delivery, and now "quick commerce," which delivers within an hour of ordering, has become the new standard in retail. According to Delivery Hero, the domestic quick commerce market grew from 350 billion won in 2020 at an average annual rate of 220% and is expected to reach 5 trillion won this year.
In this environment, GS Retail is taking the lead in the domestic quick commerce market by leveraging a "living-area logistics network" based on more than 18,000 offline stores nationwide. GS Retail's year-over-year quick commerce sales growth was 85% in 2023, 87.2% in 2024, and 64.8% from January to September 2025.
Convenience store GS25 and supermarket GS The Fresh joined Coupang Eats Shopping in Aug., becoming the only company in the industry to partner with all three services — Baemin, Coupang Eats, and Yogiyo. GS Retail currently offers quick commerce at about 10,000 Yogiyo locations, about 7,000 Baemin locations, and about 3,000 Coupang Eats locations among GS25 and GS The Fresh stores nationwide.
In addition, GS Retail's own app "Our Neighborhood GS" provides various services, including quick commerce, at roughly 18,000 stores, which is most of the network nationwide. The app has more than 4 million monthly active users (MAU). The figure is the highest even compared to apps from major offline retailers such as convenience stores, supermarkets, department stores, and big-box marts.
ChosunBiz met with Kim Aran, GS Retail Head of Team for O4O Planning, who leads the company's overall online business including quick commerce, at GS Tower in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul, on the 28th of last month. O4O is short for "Online for Offline," meaning extending and creating synergy for customer experience offline into online. Kim said, "The goal is to advance the online business so that it provides practical help to offline franchise owners." The following is a Q&A.
—Please introduce your background and your current responsibilities.
"I began my career in the e-commerce division at Lotte.com. I then handled portal and commerce services at Daum Communications, and moved to CJ CheilJedang, where I built, revamped, and grew the official mall site 'The Market.'
I joined GS Retail in 2022. That Oct., we launched the company's own app 'Our Neighborhood GS.' Now I plan various online services including the quick commerce 'Baro Delivery,' Wine25+, convenience store and supermarket preorders, My Fridge, parcel reservations, and QR payments. As the business has become more important within the company, the Quick Commerce Office under the former Platform BU was elevated to the O4O division this year.
—In recent years, the quick commerce business in Korea has shown explosive growth.
"The extraordinary situation of COVID accelerated the growth of quick commerce. In the early days of the pandemic, various food delivery services led by Baemin grew explosively. After that, the scope of delivery categories expanded to fresh food, manufactured goods, and HMR (home meal replacement).
In this situation, customer demand grew for short-term delivery that the parcel delivery model represented by Coupang could not satisfy, which became the background for quick commerce growth. Rapidly increasing single-person households have also supported demand for quick commerce."
—GS Retail is the only retailer in the industry partnered with all three delivery apps. What is the secret to rapidly expanding quick commerce channels?
"Delivery platforms such as Baemin, Coupang Eats, and Yogiyo offer good accessibility and large user bases, so many retailers want to join them. Even so, we were chosen by all three because our commitment to expanding and advancing services was recognized. It is hard to find a peer in the same industry with a quick commerce logistics network as developed and services as advanced as ours.
Also, GS Retail operates both convenience stores and supermarkets. Being able to bring in both services together likely worked as an attractive factor from the delivery apps' perspective."
—Please explain GS Retail's nationwide logistics network.
"We use convenience stores (GS25) and supermarkets (GS The Fresh) nationwide as a kind of 'urban MFC (micro fulfillment center).' Existing delivery platforms place hub centers on the outskirts of the greater Seoul area and load orders onto trucks in batches after orders accumulate. But we accept orders at stores within a 5-kilometer radius, and shortly after, a two-wheeler courier loads the goods and departs, so delivery is much faster.
And because the logistics network is tightly managed on a store-by-store basis, we can also provide services that offer various conveniences to users. For example, with 'My Fridge,' when buying convenience store promotion items such as 1+1 or 2+1, you can take one and store the rest in the app, then use them within a set period at any store. If you use the alcoholic beverage smart-order platform 'Wine25+,' you can also have your desired drinks delivered in advance to a GS25 convenience store near your destination when traveling to another region."
—What is the secret behind the success of the 'Our Neighborhood GS' app, which has more than 4 million users every month?
"We focused on linking online and offline. In the past, customers had to visit a convenience store in person to check whether it had the product they wanted, but now they can check inventory in advance through the app. Even for hit products that sometimes cause a 'convenience store frenzy,' you can reserve in advance and pick up using the Our Neighborhood GS app. We have also improved the app's key UI/UX (user experience and interface) to enhance convenience."
—What are your goals going forward?
"Since most convenience stores operate on a franchise basis, we plan to advance the online division to provide practical help in boosting franchise owners' sales. Quick commerce in itself has a sales expansion effect. Along with that, we aim to enhance app convenience by expanding customer-centric functions such as pickup service and 'My Fridge,' and to increase in-store visits.
Given the nature of convenience stores, once customers visit an offline location, it often leads to additional purchases. We will develop the Our Neighborhood GS app into a strategic platform that drives activation of sales at offline stores."