SEOUL -- The operator of South Korea's convenience store franchise GS25 aims to increase the number of its stores in Viet Nam to 1,000 by 2027 from the current 518. Along with Vietnamese snacks, the iconic South Korean convenience store chain is selling various South Korean food including Korean-style fried chicken and Tteokbokki, a menu of finger-sized rice cakes simmered in fiery-red spicy chili sauce.
GS Retail, the operator of GS25, made a foray into the Vietnamese convenience store market in 2018. According to the company's communications manager Kim Tae-eon, ready-to-eat Tteokbokki and Gimbap, a Korean dish of rice, sausage, and other ingredients wrapped in sheets of laver, were especially popular in the Southeast Asian country.
"Our objective is to run about 1,000 stores in Viet Nam by 2027," Kim told Aju Korea Daily on January 8. GS Retail currently has the largest number of stores in Viet Nam's southern regions, beating global convenience store chain operators such as Circle K and 7-Eleven. The company said it has focused on combining local food culture with South Korean food, as well as showcasing convenience store infrastructure that can be used as a restaurant or cafe-like area.
GS Retail is also running 273 stores in Mongolia. The market share of the convenience franchise operator in Mongolia surpassed 40 percent just three years after launching its business in 2021.
Other South Korean convenience store operators are also expanding their markets into different Asian regions. BGF Retail, the operator of the major domestic convenience store franchise CU, had 370 stores in Mongolia and 140 stores in Malaysia as of March 2023. Emart24, the convenience store chain of South Korea's retail giant Shinsegae, has three stores in Singapore, and plans to open its first store in Cambodia in the first half of 2024.
reporter
Kim Joo-heon
jhkim123@ajunews.com
