"Combining with Banks and Transforming into Cafes"... Convenience Stores Launching Unique Shops

CU-Hana Bank Financial Specialty Store... 20% Increase in Visitors Compared to Last Year
GS25 Opens Cafe-Style Convenience Store... Significantly Enhanced Premium Bakery and More

CU renovated its Machon Park branch in Songpa-gu, Seoul last month into a store with enhanced financial services and reopened it.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] The convenience store industry is focusing on creating stores with unique characteristics tailored to each commercial district. Moving away from the previously uniform formats, they have applied new interior designs and introduced stores specialized in finance and food, resulting in increased customer visits and sales, receiving positive responses.

◆ Convenience Store and Bank Combined, Visitor Numbers Increase = On the 9th, GS25 renovated its store located in Gohan-eup, Jeongseon, Gangwon Province, last October into a branch capable of handling Shinhan Bank transactions. By converting it into a specialized store offering 24/7 financial services, the number of convenience store visitors significantly increased; customers using the ATM alone rose eightfold compared to before. CU also partnered with Hana Bank to transform its Machun Park branch in Songpa-gu, Seoul, into a store with enhanced financial services, resulting in about a 20% increase in visitors compared to the same period last year.

The reason convenience stores are introducing these finance-specialized stores is a strategy to increase customer numbers through differentiated services and link this to store profitability. These stores incorporate banks in a shop-in-shop format within the convenience store, allowing customers to perform many banking tasks available at branch counters through comprehensive financial devices such as smart teller machines and kiosks. The signage includes both the convenience store’s and the bank’s brand identity (BI) and corporate image (CI). The interior design is also differentiated from typical convenience stores by incorporating cafes, mini gardens, and more.

GS25 opened a cafe-style convenience store last month in the cafe street of Hapjeong-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul.

◆ Stores Evolve According to Local Commercial Districts = Specialized stores combining convenience store food offerings with local commercial districts are also increasing. GS25 opened a caf?-style convenience store in the caf? street of Hapjeong-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul. The store features a terrace outside and vintage-style brick walls to enhance the caf? atmosphere. The product lineup has been significantly strengthened with coffee, ready meals, and premium bakery items, while daily necessities and seasonings have been reduced. GS25 plans to open 1 to 2 more flagship stores like this by the end of this year and an additional 10 stores by the end of next year.

Seven Eleven expanded its Food Dream specialized stores from 192 last year to 388 this year alone, currently operating 580 locations. Food Dream focuses on products such as ready-to-eat meals, differentiated beverages, fresh foods, home meal replacements (HMR), wine, and daily necessities in large stores of about 132㎡ (40 pyeong). It also offers instant foods like noodles and udon, which are hard to find in regular stores. The average daily sales of Food Dream stores are 66.5% higher than the average of regular stores, and the average spending per customer is 20.9% higher.