[Convenience Store Empire] The Holy Land of Secondhand Trading... Attracted People in Their 30s and 40s

⑨ Convenience Stores as Secondhand Trading Platforms

Seven Pickup Surpasses 2,000 Transactions
GS25 Also Offers Used Phone Collection Service
Parcel Delivery Service Between Convenience Stores 'Popular'

Convenience stores are emerging as hotspots for secondhand trading. This is due to the activation of various services such as pickup service, used phone returns, and half-price parcel delivery. Beyond the main customer base of people in their teens and twenties (the 1020 generation), now people in their thirties and forties (the 3040 generation) are flocking to convenience stores.

According to 7-Eleven on the 13th, the cumulative number of product registrations on Seven Pickup, launched in collaboration with the secondhand trading platform Junggonara, exceeded 8,000 within one month. The total number of transactions surpassed 2,000. The main users were people in their 40s, accounting for 40%, followed by those in their 30s (30%) and 20s (15%). By gender, women accounted for 70% and men 30%, showing a significantly higher usage rate among women. It is analyzed that office workers, who face significant temporal and spatial constraints in secondhand trading, found it easy to leave or pick up items at convenience stores near their workplaces, leading to high usage.

Seven Pickup is a service that allows sellers and buyers in secondhand trading to conduct transactions through 7-Eleven stores without meeting each other. Sellers register products for convenience store pickup, complete the transaction through Junggonara Pay, then scan the generated deposit exchange voucher at the convenience store and leave the item. Later, buyers present their pickup exchange voucher at the store to receive the product. After a pilot operation at about 250 major stores in the Gangnam, Seocho, and Songpa areas on the 9th of last month, 7-Eleven expanded the service to over 6,000 stores nationwide on the 30th. They plan to expand the Seven Pickup service to about 12,000 stores nationwide within the year.

Emart24 partnered with the non-face-to-face secondhand trading service provider Parabara to introduce secondhand trading machines in about 10 stores located in residential and office areas. Sellers register items on the Parabara application (app), select a store with a Parabox, choose an empty box number, and place the product inside. Buyers can check the store where the item is stocked on the Parabara app and visit it, or if they find a product they like in the Parabox, they can purchase it through self-payment. If the buyer does not raise any issues with the product, the money is deposited into the seller’s account three days later. Emart24 reported that the number of secondhand trading transactions increased by 58% compared to the previous year.

GS25 is providing a used phone collection service in partnership with Medialog, a subsidiary of LG Uplus. On the Medialog used phone purchase platform Cello website or app, users select convenience store parcel delivery as the collection method, then at the parcel terminal screen of a nearby GS25 store, select shopping mall transaction and enter a 12-digit approval number. After weighing the device to be sold and printing the shipping label, they receive a return envelope and leave the item, which Cello collects.

Customers are using the secondhand trading machine at Emart24.
[Photo by Emart24]

Parcel delivery services between convenience stores are also popular in secondhand trading. Since the process of secondhand trading is becoming more frequent, the high safety of not having to disclose addresses to strangers is an advantage. According to CU, the number of CU-to-CU parcel deliveries increased by 89.7% compared to the previous year. The usage share by age group is 30s (35%), 20s (33%), 40s (20%), and 50s (7%). CU-to-CU parcel delivery is available for drop-off at about 16,000 stores nationwide, including Sundays and holidays. The share of this service in total parcel deliveries increased from 1.8% in 2020 to 15.8% last year.

GS25’s half-price parcel delivery service is available 365 days a year, and the annual number of uses has exceeded 10 million. An analysis of 3,000 users of the half-price parcel service showed that 79% were women, and the age distribution was 44% in their 20s and 36% in their 30s. The purposes of use were 72% for secondhand trading and 21% for gift delivery. On various secondhand trading sites, posts welcoming the “half-price parcel delivery” service are frequently found.

This service involves sending and picking up parcels directly at convenience stores, with prices only about 1,800 to 2,700 won, roughly half the cost of regular parcel delivery. The ability to maintain such low parcel prices is thanks to their own logistics system. Delivery drivers who deliver convenience foods like triangular kimbap and sandwiches collect parcels and bring them to logistics centers, after which drivers responsible for other regions deliver them to the respective convenience stores, significantly reducing costs.

Professor Eunhee Lee of the Department of Consumer Studies at Inha University said, “It is very difficult to decide on a meeting place when trading secondhand items. Convenience stores are located all over the country, so they offer high convenience for both sellers and buyers,” and added, “From the convenience store’s perspective, secondhand trading services can increase foot traffic and lead to purchases of other products, so it seems like a good strategy.”