GS Retail Merger Corporation Organizational Restructuring Confirmed... Strengthening Responsible Management in 3 Areas

Divided into Platform, Digital Commerce, and Home Shopping BU... Launching on July 1

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The organizational structure of the merged GS Retail corporation, which will be launched on July 1, has been finalized.

On the 31st, GS Retail announced that the new merged corporation will be reorganized into three business units (BUs): Platform BU, Digital Commerce BU, and Home Shopping BU, establishing a responsible management system for each business area.

The Platform BU will be led by Yoon-sung Cho, the current head of GS Retail’s Platform BU; the Digital Commerce BU will be headed by Young-hoon Park, Vice President and Head of Future Business Division at GS Home Shopping; and the Home Shopping BU will be led by Ho-sung Kim, President of GS Home Shopping.

GS Retail and GS Home Shopping have set a policy to focus on nurturing digital commerce as the core business area of the merged corporation by leveraging the capabilities and synergies of both companies. They will actively discover related new businesses to secure competitiveness for sustainable growth. Last month, they launched the integrated online mall 'MARKET FOR:' and acquired a 20% stake in Mesh Korea, which operates the delivery service 'Vroong,' as part of the preliminary work for the merger.

They also presented a blueprint to invest 1 trillion KRW over five years in integrating online and offline operations and building a super-large logistics facility, aiming to achieve a transaction volume of 25 trillion KRW by 2025.

Meanwhile, ahead of the merged corporation’s launch, in the regular personnel announcement on June 1, Yoon-sung Cho was relieved of his concurrent role as head of the convenience store division. Jin-seok Oh, Vice President and Head of the Strategy Division, was appointed as the new head of the convenience store division.

Additionally, key executive appointments were made: Jae-hyung Jung as head of the Convenience Store Support Division, Chi-hong Heo as head of Convenience Store Division 2, Jong-seo Kim as deputy head of the Strategy Division, and Myung-jong Kim as head of the New Business Promotion Office.

Recently, GS Retail faced backlash and boycott campaigns from convenience store franchisees after a promotional poster for the GS25 convenience store was embroiled in a ‘misandry’ controversy. The company stated, "The employee responsible for the related design has been internally disciplined, and the marketing team leader has been removed from their position."