Wine and convenience stores pair well together it seems

Home > Business > Industry

print dictionary print

Wine and convenience stores pair well together it seems

Customers shop at 7-Eleven's remodeled wine store in Yeoksam-dong, southern Seoul, on Dec. 27. 7-Eleven remodeled the second floor of the branch into a store specialized in wine. [7-Eleven]

Customers shop at 7-Eleven's remodeled wine store in Yeoksam-dong, southern Seoul, on Dec. 27. 7-Eleven remodeled the second floor of the branch into a store specialized in wine. [7-Eleven]

 
Convenience stores are becoming wine cellars for single households, and others.
 
Kang Da-yeon, a 38-year-old office worker, often visits a convenience store on her way home to buy a bottle of wine.
 
"Though I used to prefer beer before, now I'm more into wine because the stores are offering a wide variety of wines at affordable prices these days," says Kang, adding that she also bought a couple of bottles during the Lunar New Year holiday through a buy-one-get-one-free promotion.
 
Snacks and sodas used to be the biggest sellers at convenience stores. But this is changing as alcoholic beverage sales rise. Wine is leading the sales boom.
 
Driven by the growing trend of drinking at home amid the pandemic, major convenience store chains reported two- to three-fold growth in wine sales last year.
 
At 7-Eleven, wine sales grew 204.4 percent in 2021. GS25 reported 158.3 percent growth, Emart24 106 percent and BGF Retail 101.9 percent.
 
Emart24, the market leader in wine sales, sold 3.05 million bottles of wine last year, 24 percent in December alone, a monthly record.
 
That's 24,193 bottle a day in December, one every four seconds.
 
 
"Unlike the average purchase cost of soju and beer that stand at around 2,000 ($1.7) to 3,000 won each, the average purchase cost of wines stood at a relatively high price of 11,000 won on average, up 23.6 percent compared to 8,900 won of pre-pandemic level in 2019," a spokesperson for 7-Eleven said.
 
"Wines are bringing in considerable profits, as even the expensive ones that cost over 50,000 won per bottle are high in demand."
 
Wine is also attracting consumers to buy other products at stores.
 
Imported beers ranked top of the list of items bought along with wines at 7-Eleven stores, according analysis by Lotte Members released Wednesday. Lotte Corp. owns 79.66 percent of Korea Seven, the 7-Eleven licensee in Korea.
 
"The average number of wine bottles purchased by a single customer increased by three bottles in December, compared to the average monthly record," said a spokesperson for Lotte Members, attributing the sales boost to the at-home drinking trend.
 
"It seems that people bought alcoholic drinks at nearest convenience stores to enjoy drinking at home during the holiday due to the pandemic."
 
Convenience stores are now outselling discount marts overall.  
 
A Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy report published Wednesday found that GS25, CU and 7-Eleven sales generate 15.9 percent of all retail sales, which includes sales of department stores, discount marts and e-commerce sites. It marks the first time that the convenience store chains outstripped the three largest discount marts — Emart, Lotte Mart and Homeplus — which had 15.7 percent of the market.
 
In the offline retail market, the three major convenience stores ranked second with 30.7 percent of the total sales, following the department stores (32.9 percent).
 
While the luxury items drove up the revenue in department stores, alcoholic beverages boosted sales in convenience stores.
 
Convenience stores are expanding investments in alcoholic beverages as they play a crucial role in increasing their sales.  
 
GS25 is offering over 4,500 alcoholic beverages online as of January, while 7-Eleven expanded its wine lineup from about 60 items in 2019 to over 140 items.
 
7-Eleven renovated its KT Gangnam branch located in Yeoksam-dong, southern Seoul, into a "Wine Studio" specializing in wine. The chain plans to open more such outlets.
 
Emart24 aims to expand the number of branches specializing in alcoholic beverages to 4,000 this year, from the current 3,600.
 
Since the current law requires consumers to pick up alcoholic beverages in person at offline stores even when the purchases were made online, convenience stores are utilizing their competitive edge in high accessibility.
 
"As wine became one of the hottest items, we plan to offer a wider array of wine brands in various price ranges to customers while expanding stores where customers can taste the wine," said a convenience store industry insider.
 
 
 
 
  

 

BY LEE SO-AH [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]
Log in to Twitter or Facebook account to connect
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
help-image Social comment?
s
lock icon

To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.

Standards Board Policy (0/250자)