CU Surpasses 25 Million Visitors
GS25 Launches Exclusive Map and Items
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Convenience store chains are moving quickly to capture the rapidly growing metaverse (extended virtual world) market. They have started selling items beyond simple brand promotion and plan to create revenue streams through linked sales of physical products in the future.
According to CU on the 3rd, the cumulative number of visitors to CU convenience stores within the global metaverse platform Zepeto surpassed 25 million as of last month. Posts, views, likes, and comments related to CU on the Zepeto feed have exceeded 10 million. Currently, CU operates three convenience stores on the official Zepeto map: Hangang Park Branch, Classroom Store, and Subway Station Branch. These stores arrange popular CU products exactly as they are in offline stores. CU sells a total of 11 fashion items on Zepeto, with over 500,000 units sold to date.
GS25 created a dedicated map called ‘GS25 Masisseong Samgimi Wangja’ within Zepeto. Various locations such as convenience stores, cafes, and shared kitchens are implemented, along with play areas including jump games and maze games. Recently, GS25 collaborated with famous creator Renji to release exclusive items and is currently selling 15 items including dresses and formal wear. When items are sold within Zepeto, the manufacturer and creators receive a certain commission for product design, and the remainder becomes the convenience store’s revenue.
Seven Eleven opened a convenience store, Kaia Island Branch, within Haegin’s mobile casual social network game Play Together, which has surpassed 10 million visitors. Here, visitors can purchase and consume 13 representative Seven Eleven products. Notably, Tuna Mayonnaise Triangle Kimbap, 11-Item Lunchbox, Sumi’s Aged Kimchi Stew Ramen, and Yogurt Jelly each sold over 2 million units, gaining great popularity. Emart24 is also preparing to open a convenience store within a metaverse platform.
The reason convenience stores are rushing to enter metaverse platforms is to secure market dominance by linking them as sales channels for their products and services in the future. A convenience store industry official said, "When purchasing in the metaverse, it seems likely that items will be used in the virtual space, while gifticons will be used in reality," adding, "We plan to try various initiatives connected to our products and services."
Meanwhile, the global consulting firm PwC estimates that the metaverse market size will grow from $148.5 billion (about 179 trillion KRW) last year to $476.4 billion (about 571 trillion KRW) in 2025, and to $1.5429 trillion (about 1,850 trillion KRW) by 2030.
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