GS Retail ups the ante in quick 1-hour delivery race on platform and retail network

[Source: GS Retail Co.]

GS Retail is raising the ante in the quick commerce race in South Korea by leveraging on its nationwide grocery chain, fulfillment centers and delivery and mobility platforms under its arm.

GS Retail is set to launch “Yomart” offering fresh food and daily groceries, Home Meal Replacement (HMR) and other daily items available at GS The Fresh supermarkets to deliver them within an hour upon order placement.

The minimum order for delivery is 15,000 won ($11.84) with a separate basic delivery fee of 3,000 won.

Yomart is the first service jointly developed by GS Retail and Yogiyo since the retail major-led consortium, dubbed Combined Delivery Platform Investment (CDPI), acquired the food delivery app from Germany's Delivery Hero in 2021.

The new service will leverage on GS Retail’s massive distribution centers across the country and Yogiyo’s expertise in the delivery platform business.

GS The Fresh supermarket chain network with 350 branches across the nation will be used as micro-fulfillment centers, ensuring fast delivery, the company said.

GS Retail has readied the business after investing more than 550 billion won in 12 platform businesses including Yogiyo, delivery service platform Mesh Korea, and Kakao Mobility.

The one-hour delivery would add speed to the quick commerce competition in the country.

Based on the gross merchandise volume (GMV), Korea’s e-commerce market is valued at 161 trillion won and the food delivery market at 17 trillion won. The GMV of quick commerce was still at 300 billion won last year. The GMV of the quick commerce market is expected to rise to more than 5 trillion won by 2025.

Baedal Minjok, the country’s top food delivery player, currently leads the q-commerce market with “B-mart” launched in December 2018, while Coupang Eats recently commenced “Coupang Eats Mart.”

Lotte Mart also operates a two-hour delivery service while Homeplus offers its customers one-hour delivery service “HomePlus eXpress.”

Shares of GS Retail closed up 0.38 percent at 26,100 won on Wednesday.

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