On the afternoon of the 21st at Homeplus Co. Express Daebang in Dongjak-gu, Seoul. At the meat counter of the roughly 231㎡ (about 70 pyeong) store, pork from the Harim-affiliated brand and sliced fresh duck were on display. That's rare for a supermarket. Poultry like duck must be distributed immediately after slaughter, which requires heavy refrigeration capacity, and Harim's pork brand is a premium line supplied to department stores, making it hard for general corporate supermarkets (SSMs) to handle. These are items that made it onto the shelves after the store was brought under Harim Group.
Things were different in the spring. As Homeplus Co. entered corporate rehabilitation proceedings, partner deliveries were cut off, and shelves for alcohol, dairy, and ramen—suppliers that had demanded advance payment—were empty for a long time. On this day, shelves were filled to about 90%. Resident A nearby, whose cart was packed with fruit and chicken, said, "There's nothing they don't have, so I only shop here." Jang Hyeong-guk, manager of the Daebang store, said, "Product sourcing has returned to nearly 100% normal," and added, "Because we are competitive in freshness, display, and service, the sales rebound will come even faster."
On the 23rd, it will be two months since the owner of Homeplus Co. Express changed from Homeplus Co. to NS Home Shopping. NS Home Shopping, a 100% subsidiary of Harim Holdings(003380), completed the transfer process by paying the full acquisition price of 120.6 billion won on June 22, and from the next day the newly established Homeplus Co. Express took over operations of 284 stores nationwide.
The two-month report card shows a recovery trend. According to the company, average daily sales from July 21 to Aug. 19 rose 146% compared with May 23 to June 22, just before operations began. Over the same period, the number of customer visits increased 100%, and average spend per visit rose 23%. Fresh food sales jumped 167%, consumer goods 187%, and online sales 183%.
Shelves drove the numbers up. Ahead of closing the acquisition, NS Home Shopping revived deliveries by providing payment guarantee letters to more than 120 partner companies starting June 1. As even suppliers that had insisted on advance payment resumed shipments in stages, the product assortment returned, and from July the weekly promotions that had been halted also restarted. Customers who had turned away due to empty shelves began coming back. The company also sees the increase in "stocking up" demand during the vacation period for food and daily necessities as a sign that routine grocery shoppers are returning.
However, it should be noted that the comparison baseline is the worst point. The May–June comparison period was when deliveries were cut and shelves were empty. The company also said it is "in the process of returning to normal levels." Whether recovery is real should be judged by whether sales have returned to 2024 levels before the crisis.
Attention now shifts to the difference created by "who acquired it." NS Home Shopping is a home shopping channel specialized in food, with 60% of its programming devoted to food. It has its own food safety research institute and has commercialized small and midsize enterprise products and regional specialties from the planning stage. On the other hand, it faced the limitation of shrinking customer touchpoints as TV viewership declined. The 284-store Homeplus Co. Express network becomes a means to regain those touchpoints offline.
The first results will hit shelves next month. On the 20th, NS Home Shopping unveiled six new products under its private-label health functional food brand "N-Wells," and said it will sell five value-oriented items among them at 124 Homeplus Co. Express stores starting on the 7th next month. These products are priced in the 8,000 won range for a one-month supply. It also decided to continue receiving Homeplus Co.'s former private-label "Simplex" products at the same previous supply prices, preserving the "value for money" lineup. That's why Simplex frozen foods and snacks were packed throughout the Homeplus Co. Express Daebang store that day. An NS Home Shopping official said, "We aimed to keep the products that customers seeking value for money came for as they were."
It also expanded its sourcing network at the origin. On the 28th of last month, it signed a three-party business agreement with NongHyup Economic Holdings and created a structure to move agricultural and livestock products supplied by NongHyup simultaneously through Express stores and NS Home Shopping's broadcast and online channels.
◇ "Return to normal operating scale around year-end"
The company is preparing a large-scale "grand open" style promotion next month. Timed with the Chuseok shopping season, it is expected to be the first major marketing push to announce the start of the new ownership system.
There are clear hurdles. GS The Fresh, the No. 1 SSM, recently surpassed 500 franchise stores, bringing its total to 603. While major SSMs saw first-half sales fall an average of 6.6% from a year earlier, GS The Fresh's sales rose 9.6%. For Homeplus Co. Express, about 90% of the 284 stores are directly operated, so it has yet to tap franchise expansion, which is advantageous for scaling up.
An NS Home Shopping official said, "For now, the goal is restoration rather than competition," and added, "By around year-end, we expect to recover to the operating scale of 2024 when things were normal. Aggressive moves will come after that."