E-Mart 24 to enter Cambodian market next year, aims to run 100 outlets by 2028

(From left, front row) Hanlim Architecture Group Chairman Park Jin-sun, Managing Director of E-Mart 24 Choi Eun-yong, CEO of Saisons Brother Holding Corp. David Sambo and affiliated officials pose for a photo during a signing ceremony in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Thursday. (E-Mart 24)

E-Mart's convenience store chain, E-Mart 24, said Friday it will foray into the Cambodian market next year to tap into the country's economic growth potential.

E-Mart 24 plans to open its first outlet in the country by the first half of 2024, becoming the first Korean convenience store operator to do so.

The Korean retailer said it signed a three-way memorandum of understanding with a Cambodian retail firm, Saisons Brother Holding Corp. and Korean real estate Hanlim Architecture Group in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to put joint efforts towards E-Mart's entry into the Cambodian market.

Through the memorandum, E-Mart said the three companies will aim to form a joint venture tentatively named E-Mart 24 Cambodia, and contract a master franchise agreement through the JV in the future to open its first Cambodian E-Mart 24 outlet.

After opening its first outlet, the company said it will gradually increase the number of E-Mart outlets in Cambodia to 100 through 2028.

An E-Mart 24 official said the company's foray into Cambodia comes as the company highly values Cambodia's market potential. The country has continuously logged an annual gross domestic product growth rate of more than 7 percent until 2019, when the pandemic broke loose and caused an economic slowdown.

"We expect the Cambodian economy to continue its growth in the post COVID-19 era. As such, we pushed for the first time in Korea (as a convenience store operator) to (foray into) the country's convenience store industry," said an official from E-Mart 24.

Currently, E-Mart has a total of 42 global outlets, 39 of which are in Malaysia and three, in Singapore. E-Mart said it aims to increase the number of outlets in each country to 300, within five years, and ultimately operate 700 outlets globally by 2028.

"Everyone will join forces to successfully settle E-Mart 24 in the Cambodian market, where the growth potential is particularly high, while continuing to review and implement (E-Mart 24's) entry into other countries," said Choi Eun-yong, managing director of E-Mart 24, during the signing ceremony.

By Lee Yoon-seo(yoonseo.3348@heraldcorp.com)