Convenience Stores Enhance New Store Support for Local Customer Acquisition
Following a period of streamlining underperforming stores last year, convenience store chain emart24 is intensifying its support for new locations this year. The strategy shifts from aggressive expansion to a focus on improving profitability per store, coupled with robust head office marketing assistance to ensure new outlets establish a strong local presence from the outset.
Leveraging Local Platforms for Early Customer Engagement
Since February, emart24 has been operating a support program for newly opened stores utilizing the ‘ Profile’ feature on Danggeun, a popular local community platform (formerly known as Danggeun Market). This initiative aids new franchisees in setting up their Profile, facilitating the creation of promotional content to inform nearby customers about their store’s opening.
During the initial month of operation, a special promotion offers 2,500 Danggeun points for purchases exceeding 5,000 won made via Danggeun Pay. Danggeun Profiles allow stores to register their information, serving as a local marketing channel that can broadcast operating hours, location, event details, and new product announcements to users in the vicinity. When users designate a store as a ‘favorite,’ they receive continuous updates on relevant news and benefits.
emart24 is also producing content tailored to individual store characteristics, highlighting products like instant coffee, instant noodles, and its private label ‘Yellow’ items, alongside membership benefits, to inform new store owners. Previously, new store owners often relied on creating their own flyers or distributing promotional materials in the neighborhood. This new digital-first approach aims to reduce the initial operating burden for new stores by providing head office-backed local marketing support.
Strategic Importance of Early Customer Acquisition
The increased support for new stores stems from the critical nature of early customer acquisition in the convenience store business. As neighborhood-dependent businesses, rapidly informing local consumers and securing regular customers is paramount. For emart24, a later entrant to the market, failure to establish new stores with a solid customer base early on increases the risk of them becoming underperforming locations.
Tangible Results from Support Programs
The effectiveness of these support programs is becoming evident. An analysis of 67 new stores utilizing Danggeun Profiles as of late April revealed that the average number of newly acquired regular customers per store was approximately 7% of their total daily visitors. For a store averaging 200 daily visitors, this translates to an influx of about 14 new customers.
By location type, office districts showed the highest acquisition rate at 10.5%, followed by general residential areas at 9.6%, and commercial facilities at 8.7%. Some stores have reported that the number of regular customers acquired through Profiles has reached up to 26% of their average daily customer count.
Park Hwa-jeong, an emart24 franchisee in Gwangju Metropolitan City’s Buk-gu, expressed her gratitude: “It’s not easy to inform local customers about your store when you first open. It’s a great help that the head office provides promotional and event support.” She added, “Even after the Danggeun Pay event ended, we’ve consistently informed customers about our store’s unique discounts and new products, and our regular customer base is gradually growing.””
Shifting Focus to Strategic Growth
While emart24 focused on consolidating underperforming stores last year, the company is now prioritizing new store openings as a growth driver. The total number of emart24 stores decreased from 6,598 in 2023 to 5,510 by the end of last year. However, the first quarter of this year saw a slight increase of 4 stores compared to the previous quarter, indicating a reversal in the trend.
Despite the decrease in the total store count, operational efficiency is improving. In the first quarter of this year, while the number of emart24 stores dropped by 10.4% year-on-year, sales only decreased by 1.6%. Kim Ha-na, Head of emart24 Brand Marketing Team, stated, “For new stores, early customer acquisition significantly impacts their future operational stability. We plan to expand a variety of marketing support programs that can lead to genuine customer acquisition and increased revenue.””
