[Courtesy of BGF Retail]
SEOUL -- CU, a homemade convenience store franchise, has partnered with South Korea's biggest web portal operator Naver to provide grocery delivery services using the portal's convenient online shopping platform in an effort to become a top convenience store player in the country's rapidly growing grocery delivery market.
The grocery delivery market saw a major change last year when food delivery service operators Baedal Minjok and Yogiyo partnered with convenience store chains and hypermarket brands such as Homeplus. Customers can conveniently order groceries including ready-to-eat meals as well as daily necessities such as toilet papers using delivery services' smartphone apps.
BGF Retail, the operator of CU, said in a statement on Monday that its convenience store brand would use Naver's integrated platform management service. Customers can now search for the nearest CU store on Naver and order groceries. Local delivery service workers will pick up ordered items from the store to deliver to customers.
CU said it will test operate Naver's grocery order service at two stores in Seoul and expand the service to some 3,000 stores across the country. In partnership with Yogiyo, CU provides a one-hour grocery delivery service at some 4,000 stores.
According to CU, the average delivery sales of stores were increased by 19.2 percent after the convenience store chain partnered with Yogiyo to add daily supplies to the list of products available through the grocery delivery service in September last year. CU said that 46 percent of total delivery orders were sanitary products including condoms and sanitary pads.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
