Department stores enhance fresh food offerings to counter online retailers

[Photo by Lee Hyo-seok]

In response to the rapid growth of online retail during the Covid-19 pandemic, department stores, traditional strongholds of offline retail, are focusing on boosting their competitiveness in the fresh food market.

Lotte Department Store launched a new service called Today Egg at its Gangnam branch in southern Seoul in May, selling eggs harvested on the same day.

The concept behind Today Egg is to deliver “eggs laid at dawn to your dinner table the same evening.”

This service is available every Tuesday and Thursday from 4 p.m. The limited stock of 20 packs (10 eggs each) sells out within three hours.

Typically, eggs are considered freshest if consumed within seven days of being laid. The eggs for Today Egg are harvested at 3 a.m. from direct trade farms in Hwasun and Muan, South Jeolla Province, and delivered to the store by the afternoon.

Lotte Department Store plans to expand the service to its Jamsil and Bundang branches this year.

Shinsegae Department Store’s ultra-fresh product, Sesame Oil of the Month, is also gaining popularity. Limited to 50 bottles per month at its main, Gangnam, and Daegu branches, the product consistently sells out on the day of arrival.

The sesame oil is pressed at dawn on a single day each month and delivered the same day. It is produced by cooperative members in Gangha-myeon, Yangpyeong County, who grow and harvest sesame and perilla seeds, processed in state-of-the-art HACCP-certified facilities using cold-press techniques.

Hyundai Department Store offers Dawn Strawberries during the strawberry season from December to April. This service started in 2018 and provides customers with strawberries harvested at dawn from the fixed supply region of Hapcheon County, South Gyeongsang Province.

The strawberries are picked between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m. and delivered to stores like Mokdong, Pangyo, and The Hyundai Daegu by around noon. Depending on harvesting conditions, this service operates three to four times a week.