Harim(136480)Group acquired Homeplus Express 86 days ago, and the "ultra-low-price German ALDI model" plan circulating in the retail industry appears to be headed for scrapping. It seems Chairman Kim Hong-guk of Harim Group remembers the dark history of "700 Market," which took a bitter defeat after jumping in with a manufacturing-style cost-cutting mindset 20 years ago. Harim is focusing on a "fresh produce and health supplements specialty platform" that combines affiliate NS Home Shopping's sourcing capability in agriculture and fisheries with Homeplus Express's quick commerce (instant delivery), rather than competing on ultra-low prices. Analysts say Harim, which learned a hard lesson from distribution that "just sells cheap," is shifting its platform strategy to distribution that "delivers fresh."
According to the retail industry on the 15th, Harim affiliate NS Home Shopping plans to create a "Homeplus Express Hall" at "NS Food Festa 2026," to be held in Iksan, North Jeolla, on Nov. 16, and promote it. This will be the first official stage unveiled after integrating distribution networks by Harim, which acquired Homeplus Express for 120.6 billion won through NS Home Shopping in June. Chairman Kim Hong-guk of Harim is expected to announce a mid- to long-term strategy for Homeplus Express at the event.
The retail industry is watching what card Chairman Kim will present after investing more than 100 billion won. Earlier in May, at NS Home Shopping's 25th anniversary vision declaration ceremony, Kim emphasized an online–offline consolidation platform, saying, "Competition in distribution is not a competition of channels but a competition of experiences."
◇ The "700 Market," which said it would make directly and sell cheap, failed
The industry is paying attention to Kim's strategy announcement because this is not Harim's first attempt at offline retail. Kim's offline retail saga dates back to 2006. At the time, Harim benchmarked Germany's world-renowned ultra-low-price discount stores "ALDI" and "LIDL" and unveiled "700 Market." It drastically reduced the number of SKUs and lowered store operating costs to compete with shockingly low prices.
However, it lost out in the "economies of scale" battle with big-box stores and ultimately had to hand it over to E-MART(139480) at a bargain price after six years. It took a bitter defeat by clinging to a manufacturing-style mindset of "making directly and selling cheap" in distribution.
Since then, Kim has focused on building a distinctive cost-reduction value chain in his core production and manufacturing domain. Starting in the 1990s, he completed vertical integration in livestock, spanning feed, parent stock, breeding, slaughter, and meat processing, and in 2015 acquired Pan Ocean to internalize seaborne freight for feed raw material imports. In 2018, he launched the "The Miseuk" brand, expanding the front to premium HMR manufacturing.
Right after the acquisition, the dominant view in the retail industry was that Kim would reapply to Homeplus Express the ALDI-style expense reduction and private brand (PB)-centric model that had failed in the past. But 85 days after the acquisition, Harim's moves look completely different from market expectations.
◇ A renewed push leveraging strengths in fresh food and quick commerce
NS Home Shopping drew a line on the ALDI-style ultra-low-price model, calling it "an old-fashioned approach whose time has passed in an urban SSM (corporate supermarket) environment." Instead, the strategy is to specialize in fresh food and wellness by combining sourcing capabilities in agriculture and fisheries with Homeplus Express's quick commerce.
This strategy is taking shape through organizational and physical integration. The Homeplus Express merchandising (MD) team, which has completed its move to the 5th floor of NS Home Shopping's Pangyo headquarters, is holding standing meetings with NS Home Shopping's produce and food MD specialists. MDs from both companies are transplanting NS Home Shopping's direct-trade network with farms into offline stores and seeking to maximize synergies through collaboration with NongHyup.
NS Home Shopping also swiftly placed five value-line items of its flagship health supplement private brand (PB) "N Wells" on the shelves of 124 Homeplus Express stores. It positioned Harim affiliates' fresh duck, premium pork, and HMR product lines prominently at the front of stores—items rarely seen in existing SSMs—and extended the cutoff time for nearby instant-delivery orders to 11 p.m., strengthening its role as a quick-commerce base.
In the retail industry, there is criticism that if Harim becomes fixated on "cost reduction" and overlooks the particularities of retail services, this acquisition of Homeplus Express could also go down as another costly failure.
Central University economics professor Lee Jeong-hee advised, "For Homeplus Express to compete with big-box stores like E-MART or online platforms like Coupang, it must make freshness its competitive edge." The professor added, "I hope Harim will successfully apply the cost-reduction know-how it has accumulated on the manufacturing floor to distribution," but also noted, "If it reduces costs at the expense of service quality, consumers will inevitably turn away."
An NS Home Shopping official said, "Homeplus Express's immediate goal is to recover sales," adding, "We will carve out a niche market among giant Coupang and big-box stores like E-MART and Lotte Mart."