GS Retail and BGF Retail, which vie for first and second place in the convenience store industry, both received the "$10 million Export Tower." It is the result of rising demand for Korean convenience store products in the global market.
GS Retail, which operates the GS25 convenience store chain, and BGF Retail, which operates CU, received the "$10 million Export Tower" at the 62nd Trade Day ceremony on Dec. 4.
GS Retail's exports this year reached 15 billion won as of the end of last month. Compared with 2017, the first year of exports (200 million won), that is more than a 75-fold increase.
During the same period, export items expanded 15-fold, from about 40 to about 600. The number of destination countries also grew to about 33, including the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom, spanning North America, Europe, Central and South America, the Middle East, and Asia.
Private-label (PB) products such as Youus and Real Price ranked among the main export items. Popular products in Korea were introduced overseas through social media (SNS), boosting import requests from partner companies.
BGF Retail won the $1 million Export Tower in 2019 and received the $10 million Export Tower six years later. The number of export products is about 1,000, with popular items including "fresh fruit highball" and the "Yonsei cream bread series."
As of last month, CU operated 750 stores overseas. CU entered Mongolia with its first store in 2018, Malaysia in 2021, and Kazakhstan last year. On the 12th of last month, it opened its first store in Hawaii, United States.