E-mart’s Traders Wholesale Club has almost 600,000 Paying Members

[Source : E-mart’s Traders]

E-mart Inc. has seen the number of members grow for its Traders Wholesale Club three months after starting a new membership program in October as rising inflation has prompted an increasing of consumers to look for big savings.

Traders Wholesale Club has more than 580,000 paid members as of Jan. 5, according to E-mart on Sunday. The retailer is showing rapid growth in membership-signings, with some 20,000 new members every five days this year.

The retailer is expected to exceed its initial goal of getting 700,000 paid members by the end of 2023. “Even insiders saw the figure as pretty ambitious, so this is quite an unexpected success,” a source from the store said.

The membership surge is largely attributed to discount perks. A standard membership requires 30,000 won ($24) in yearly fees and a premium membership 70,000 won. The standard membership already covers the yearly fees if one purchases at least 10 membership-only items.

Last month, the big-box store sold out its shine muscat grapes within a 20 day-period, at 32,980 won per box, more than 10% off the price of 36,980 won for a 4-kilogram box. “The tag price was already 10% cheaper than the market average, but our members were able to have them at 4,000 won cheaper than usual, leading to two times more sales volume,” the retailer said.

The retailer also introduced one-liter “Evan Williams Bottled in Bond” whiskeys for the first time in October. The one-liter bottle was sold for 39,980 won for members, around 4,000 won cheaper than its recommended retail price of 43,980 won. A total of 14,000 bottles were sold in two months, hitting an 80% increase in the store’s entire whiskey sales during the period.

[Sources : E-mart, Shinsegae]

“Our ‘Big Wave Items’ based on high customer demand and bigger discount gaps are mostly driving the sales surge,” said the store. The chain revealed that 30 “Big Wave Items” brought in 10 billion won in sales in the last quarter of 2022. Indeed, the retail chain saw a mere 1.8% increase year-on-year in sales in first three quarters sales last year, but the increase in the fourth quarter, following the launch of the new membership program, jumped 3.6%.

The discount rates are irrelevant to membership, but sales return more points to certain members. Standard members get 1% of their final purchase price saved as “TR cash” points, the Traders Wholesale Club points system, and premium members get 2% of their final purchase price in points, with a maximum of 500,000 won and 1,000,000 won each.

The “TR cash” rewards system has been renewed this year and high-spending customers seem to be happy about the rewards they’ve received. The retailer said that one couple joined as its premium membership on New Year’s Day, purchased about 4.8 million won in home appliances, and received 96,000 won in points, or 2% of their final purchase price. The couple has already covered its yearly fee and more, the retailer said.

Premium memberships can be beneficial to high-spending customers and to large-volume customers in the run up to Lunar New Year, the company said.

Having seen new stores opening every year since its launch with the Guseong store in Yongin in 2020, the retailer now has 21 outlets nationwide. The store hit two-digit sales growth both in 2020 and 2021, and is now topping 3 trillion won in sales per year, the company said.