Emart online sales top 1 tln won in 2017

SEOUL, Jan. 14 (Yonhap) -- Online sales at Emart Inc., South Korea's largest hypermarket chain, exceeded 1 trillion won (US$939 million) mark for the first time last year, corporate data showed Sunday. The discount store chain with stores all over the country said Emart Mall, its online operation, surged 25.2 percent on-year to little over 1.05 trillion won. This far exceeded gains made in its offline operations that increased 3.1 percent on-year to 11.68 trillion won. The retail giant, part of Shinsegae Group, then said sales of its warehouse store Emart Traders soared 27.2 percent to 1.52 trillion won, thanks in part to the opening of three more outlets. Combined sales for the Emart's offline, online and warehouse stores advanced 6.7 percent vis-a-vis 2016 to over 14.47 trillion won last year. Emart said that it is in the process of closing down older stores that are not generating profit and is moving forward to leave the Chinese market that has been loosing money. It said that efforts will be centered on further building up its online and warehouse store operations to generate future growth, with emphasis on expanding its customer base from people in their 30-40s to those in their 20s who are already adept at making purchases online. There has also been speculation in the market that Emart may be looking to take over or form a partnership with a large online retailer as part of its growth strategy. yonngong@yna.co.kr (END)