CU, 'CUkkiri' Delivery at Half Price... Usage Triples

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] As the secondhand trading market rapidly expands recently, the number of convenience store parcel deliveries has also increased accordingly.

According to CU on the 18th, the number of customers using CU parcel delivery through online secondhand trading platforms from January to April this year increased by 37.7% compared to the same period last year. This growth rate is about 16 percentage points higher than the overall parcel delivery usage growth rate (21.2%) during the same period.

In particular, the ‘CU-kiri Parcel’ service, which delivers parcels sent from a nearby CU to the CU closest to the recipient, saw its usage triple in May compared to when the service was first introduced in March. It is analyzed that CU-kiri Parcel is gaining great popularity among secondhand product traders who find it burdensome to pay the convenience store parcel delivery fee of at least around 2,600 won for low-priced secondhand transactions.

CU-kiri Parcel takes an average of 3 to 4 days for delivery but costs 1,600 won (for items under 1 kg), making it the cheapest parcel delivery service in Korea. Additionally, the number of new members signing up for CU’s exclusive parcel service, CU Post, also increased by 13.6%.

Previously, in 2017, CU became the first in the industry to sign an agreement with Qdealion (operator of Junggonara) and offered a discount of 200 won per parcel when using CU parcel delivery through Junggonara. Recently, CU has partnered with iBaby, a specialized secondhand marketplace for baby and maternity products, and Bungaejangter, which has 10 million members, to provide parcel delivery fee discounts when trading secondhand goods through CU parcel delivery.

Meanwhile, CU is running various events for CU-kiri Parcel users until the end of this month.

Customers who send parcels using CU-kiri Parcel and enter the parcel tracking number on the CU Post website will receive a random gift of either the KBS popular variety show ‘New Product Launch Pyeonstorang’ related product, Paraetangmyeon or Majangmyeon cup noodles. Customers who use a Kookmin Card to make their first payment for CU-kiri Parcel delivery fees will receive a 100% payback of the amount paid.

Kim Jihoe, MD of BGF Retail Service Platform Team, said, “Thanks to the launch of CU Post and the differentiated services and events unique to CU, the number of users is steadily increasing,” adding, “CU plans to continuously introduce various services tailored to customer needs, such as the premium CU Home Parcel service, the simple and popular CU General Parcel, and the cost-effective CU-kiri Parcel.”