Big-box retailers are reorganizing their offline stores into "food-centered spaces" with fresh food at the forefront. The key is filling most of the floor space with groceries and strengthening the cold-chain system from farm to table. As growth stagnation persists for the three major big-box chains—E-MART, Homeplus Co., and Lotte Mart—they have chosen fresh food as a breakthrough.
According to the retail industry on the 18th, E-MART is posting results by putting forward "Starfield Market." At the Jukjeon branch, which was revamped in Aug. last year, sales rose 28% and the number of visitors increased 22%. That Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin chose this location for his first on-site visit of the new year is interpreted as a signal to back this strategy.
Starfield Market, now expanded to Ilsan, Dongtan, and Gyeongsan, is recording an average sales growth rate of around 20%. The Eunpyeong branch, slated for a revamp in the first half, will expand its food floor space fourfold from the current size, and the "Food Market" stores in Daegu and Godeok have filled more than 90% of their directly operated areas with food.
The "Order to Home" direct-from-farm delivery service is also growing quickly. In just eight months since launch, sales have increased sevenfold, establishing it as a differentiated fresh-food strategy.
Homeplus Co. has put the extra-large food hall "Mega Food Market" at the forefront. After its debut at the Ganseok branch in 2022, the Gangseo branch last year introduced "Mega Food Market Live," focused on made-to-order cooking and customized services. The company has strengthened experiential stores where consumers can see and choose for themselves.
To maintain freshness, it also built a system that manages temperatures in real time from logistics vehicles to in-store shelves. Currently, 33 out of 117 stores nationwide have been converted to Mega Food Market.
The results are clear. In its first year, Mega Food Market's average sales rose more than 20%, and some stores recorded growth rates of over 80%. Cumulative visitors have surpassed 100 million.
Lotte Mart is pushing the "Grand Grocery" model, filling 90% of the store with groceries. It has greatly expanded deli counters compared to typical big-box stores and combined its own bakery, small-portion ready meals, and seasonings from around the world.
It has applied a temperature control system to all delivery vehicles and plans to complete the end-to-end cold chain for fresh food through an automated logistics center to be built in Busan.