Han Chae-yang, chief executive of E-MART, said on the 26th that the company will accelerate topline growth this year by pushing three key strategies: strengthening store competitiveness, diversifying sales channels, and fostering new growth engines.
At E-MART's 15th regular shareholders meeting held Tuesday morning at the Post Tower in Jung-gu, Seoul, Han said, "With a low-growth trend also expected this year, E-MART will achieve continuous growth and revenue generation."
Han said, "Last year, E-MART's standalone operating profit reached the highest level in five years, and our sales share exceeded 60% among the three major hypermarket operators," adding, "This is a result that shows E-MART's competitiveness and growth momentum are strengthening even amid an intensely competitive retail market environment."
Han then presented this year's three key focus areas: strengthening store competitiveness, diversifying sales channels, and fostering new growth engines. He said, "As we enter the second year of integrated purchasing, we will further enhance price competitiveness by expanding the scale of procurement," and added, "We will diversify our exclusive and differentiated product portfolio, including E-MART PL (private label) and ultra-low-price products, to strengthen traffic attraction."
He added, "We will strategically revamp our flagship discount event, 'Goraeit Festa,' to roll out differentiated promotions that leverage offline strengths," and said, "By introducing a new loyalty program, we will expand customer benefits and establish a foundation for stable growth."
He also said, "We will convert six or more E-MART hypermarkets into mall-type formats, and comprehensively upgrade facilities and experiential elements at about 30 other stores," adding, "To improve regional customer accessibility, we will actively expand small formats such as No Brand and Everyday."
He also laid out a strategy to diversify sales channels. Han said, "The market now demands both the experiential value of offline shopping and the convenient purchasing experience of online," adding, "In line with this, we will further expand our omnichannel services that organically link online and offline."
He said, "We will strengthen pickup and delivery services based on the E-MART app and introduce convenience services for offline shoppers to build a customer-centric omni-shopping system," adding, "We will also further expand quick commerce services in response to a consumption trend that prioritizes immediacy."
He also expressed a commitment to securing new growth engines. Han said, "We plan to build an online-offline integrated 'retail media platform' that combines about 30 million daily online and offline visitors, our nationwide store infrastructure, and customer data assets," adding, "Through this, we will provide customers with more personalized shopping experiences while shifting to a business structure that can generate additional revenue."
He went on, "To expand our global business, we will enter new countries and achieve more than 20% topline growth from a year earlier by increasing store openings in the four existing countries and boosting product exports," adding, "We will also gradually introduce new technologies such as AI and robotics to improve work productivity and actively respond to new operating environments."
Meanwhile, the shareholders meeting approved six agenda items: ◇ approval of financial statements ◇ partial amendment to the articles of incorporation ◇ appointment of Kang In-seok, head of E-MART's support division, as inside director ◇ appointment of an outside director who will serve as an audit committee member ◇ approval of plans to dispose of treasury shares ◇ decision on the limit of directors' compensation.
During the Q&A, a shareholder voiced concerns about financial stability amid the group's series of investments, including Starfield Cheongna, the East Seoul Terminal site development, and an AI data center. In response, Han said, "The retail industry currently faces difficulties on many fronts, including intensifying competition, stagnant growth, and government regulation, but we believe that if the company only builds cash, it cannot secure the future, so we are investing in new areas for future value," adding, "We will also make securing financial stability a top priority so shareholders need not worry."
Han said, "By concentrating companywide capabilities over the past two years to strengthen our core business competitiveness, we achieved results in which market leadership and revenue expanded together," adding, "In 2026, we will steadily carry out the three key strategies without disruption to further reinforce business growth and development for the future."