"Neighborhood Supermarkets Also Available for Online Orders!" ... Pohang City Leads Efforts to Revitalize Local Markets with Distribution and Logistics Service Support

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy Opens First Small and Medium Distribution Online Logistics Support Project 'Small and Medium Distribution Fulfillment Pohang Center'

The opening ceremony of the Pohang City Small and Medium Distribution Fulfillment Center was held on the 9th in the Daedo-dong area of Nam-gu.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] On the 9th, Pohang City held an opening ceremony for the nation’s first “Small and Medium Distribution Fulfillment Pohang Center” in Daedo-dong, Nam-gu, as part of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s Fulfillment Construction Project.

The “Fulfillment Construction Project” is a program that supports small and medium-sized distributors, such as neighborhood supermarkets, which find it difficult to establish their own delivery logistics infrastructure amid the rapidly changing distribution environment shifting to online and contactless methods after COVID-19. It is an online distribution logistics service support project that leverages the strengths of local small retail distributors by connecting “logistics center-store-consumer.”

After being selected for this project in July last year, the city invested a total project cost of about 7 billion KRW including national funds, and completed the Small and Medium Distribution Fulfillment Pohang Center on an 8,800㎡ site in Daedo-dong with about 1,900㎡ of space equipped with an online linkage system and automation facilities handling industrial products and miscellaneous goods, and held the opening ceremony on this day.

Accordingly, the small and medium distribution joint wholesale logistics center operated by the Pohang Supermarket Cooperative with city support at the same location was “upgraded” to the Small and Medium Distribution Fulfillment Pohang Center.

With the establishment of the Fulfillment Pohang Center, neighborhood supermarkets can now perform product ordering, sales, and delivery based on an online platform, and consumers can check products from neighborhood supermarkets in real time and receive ordering, payment, and delivery services through the online platform.

Accordingly, by applying the strengths of the fulfillment system to Pohang’s local economy, small stores in alley markets have also established a foundation to actively respond to online orders.

Not only rapid delivery through handling small quantities of various products and efficient inventory management but also planning and selling exclusive products such as local specialties linked to the regional supply chain have become possible, presenting a new growth model suitable for the digital age and also expected to strengthen the competitiveness of small and medium distributors.

Son Jeong-ho, Director of the Job and Economy Bureau, said, “The opening of the Small and Medium Distribution Fulfillment Pohang Center will be an opportunity for local small and medium distributors and small business owners, who have suffered many difficulties due to the prolonged COVID-19 crisis and Typhoon Hinnamnor damage, to regain vitality,” adding, “We will continue to actively respond to changes in the distribution industry and do our best to promote and expand fulfillment and secure online competitiveness targeting traditional markets and local commercial districts.”