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| A customer buys bean sprouts at a Seven Eleven store in Seoul, on June 14. Courtesy of Seven Eleven |
By Kim Jae-heun
Convenience stores are expanding their fresh food sections to attract more people living alone who want to purchase vegetables and fruits in small amounts, according to company officials Thursday.
Fresh produce was not the main item sold by convenience stores as they are difficult to store and maintain for a long period of time. However, with an increasing number of one-person households and the growing accessibility of convenience stores, more and more people are shopping for vegetables and fruits there.
In 2021, Seven Eleven launched a private brand called "Seven Farm" to supply fresh produce to its 1,300 convenience stores in the country. This helped Seven Eleven's sales in May and June last year increase three times compared to a year ago. The company plans to increase the number of specialty stores selling Seven Farm products to 2,000 within this year.
"We have gained our customers' trust in fresh food products by launching our own brand and standardizing their packaging designs. We also specified the origin of items to emphasize the quality of vegetables and fruits, which turned out to be successful," a Seven Eleven official said.
GS25 also operates its private brand of fresh produce in collaboration with GS Retail's supermarket firm. This helped the convenience store to directly purchase products from local farms and reduce their unit price. GS25's fresh food sales last month increased 41.3 percent year-on-year.
"Nowadays, people don't just pay money for cheap products. They look for high quality vegetables and fruits that they can find at large supermarkets. We will continue to let more customers discover our private brand," a GS25 official said.
