Shinsegae to enter convenience store biz

Park Ji-won
05-01-2014
Korea Times
The Shinsegae Group has decided to take over “With Me,” a mid-sized retail franchise chain, to enter the convenience store business, the group said Sunday.
It said that its board of directors decided to buy With Me at a meeting in December in order to diversify its business portfolio. With Me operates 89 stores in Korea.
“Shinsegae has yet to decide how to use the franchise,” Shinsegae spokesman Moon Sung-hyun said.
“We will soon decide whether to operate it as a franchise store chain, or a retail outlet just receiving Shinsegae affiliates’ products,” he added. A franchise store chain shares revenue with its parent group.
The firm has been actively considering the convenience store business since last year, as seen by a number of moves including the running of a With Me store in one of its outlets in Busan as a trial.
Meanwhile, Shinsegae’s business expansion might raise controversy that the retail giant is trying to threaten the market share of small and medium-sized retailers by using its business superiority in the market.