"Sold Like Hotcakes Despite Recession" The Secret Behind Daiso's Solo Rapid Growth [Evolution of Cheonwontem]

Daiso Seizes the Recession as an Opportunity for Rapid Growth
Estimated to Surpass 4 Trillion Won in Sales Last Year
Store Opening Requirement: Over 330 Square Meters... Even 2,640 Square Meter Locations
Consumers Open Their Wallets at Daiso Despite Economic Hardships... Love Calls from Major Retailers Continue

"National store Daiso has upheld the uniform price spirit that values the worth of one thousand won." Park Jung-bu, Chairman of Asung Daiso

How did Daiso, which opened Korea's first uniform price daily necessities store in 1997, grow into a 'national store' and at the same time become a shopping destination for tourists?

The household goods store 'Asung Daiso' has purchased all shares of the Japanese Daiso Sangyo, in which it was the second-largest shareholder. This move is expected to remove the label of being a 'Japanese company' and transform it into a native Korean company. The photo shows a Daiso store located in Jongno-gu. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

In recession-type consumption... only Daiso thrives

In a high inflation and low growth environment, consumers refrain from opening their wallets except for essentials like food, and even when they do buy, they practice frugal consumption by opting for products with excellent cost-effectiveness. Japan, which inspired the founding of Daiso, also saw 100-yen shops enjoy a special boom alone during the long recession in the late 1990s.

Chairman Park Jung-bu's management philosophy of creating a national store where 1,000 won is treated with value perfectly aligned with Korea's high inflation and weakened consumer sentiment, became the foundation for rapid growth. It created an environment where the principle of selling not just cheap products but only those with the best cost-effectiveness could truly take effect. In his autobiography, Chairman Park explains the reason Daiso survived among the many one-thousand-won shops that sprang up like mushrooms: "Other companies sold clearance items, but Daiso sold quality products through cash payments and bulk orders."

Unlike general distribution companies that set selling prices by adding profit margins to product costs, Daiso first sets six uniform prices?500 won, 1,000 won, 1,500 won, 2,000 won, 3,000 won, and 5,000 won?at which consumers can feel cost-effectiveness, and then develops products accordingly. As a result, its performance has been breaking records every year. In 2023, sales reached 3.4605 trillion won, and operating profit was 261.7 billion won, up 17% and 9% respectively from the previous year. The operating profit margin was 7.56%, which is excellent compared to the 1% range of the three major hypermarkets during the same period. Daiso is poised to surpass 4 trillion won in annual sales in 2024.

Rising as an anchor tenant... aggressive expansion of large stores

In response to the growing number of consumers seeking cost-effective products, Daiso is expanding its product categories and aggressively increasing the number of stores. Starting from the 24th, Daiso will launch health functional foods such as lutein and omega-3 under the existing uniform price policy, in addition to the quasi-drugs it has been selling. This is Daiso's first full-scale entry into the health supplement market beyond quasi-drugs.

Store size and number are also expanding aggressively. The number of Daiso stores increased from 1,361 in 2019 to 1,519 in 2023. This contrasts with other retailers like marts and convenience stores that are reducing offline stores in response to online shopping trends. Daiso is also unveiling super-large stores. The Pocheon Songuri store, which opened at the end of December last year, is a standalone Daiso store built on a 790-pyeong (approx. 2,610 sqm) former large mart site, showcasing Daiso cosmetics and camping goods by brand.

As Daiso covers not only daily necessities but also beauty and health sectors, recently, large marts have been competing to attract Daiso stores. Following the opening of the Seoul Homeplus Sangbong store (790 pyeong) in April last year, Daiso opened the largest stores in August at Emart Gyeonggi Uiwang (830 pyeong) and Lotte Mart Gimhae (about 780 pyeong). At the end of last year, Daiso also occupied the second largest 1,320㎡ (400 pyeong) space among stores in the Busan Premium Outlet operated by Shinsegae Simon.

Daiso has effectively risen as an anchor tenant. An anchor tenant refers to a key lessee with a strong customer attraction effect, meaning a store that can significantly increase visitors by itself, such as Starbucks.

Exterior view of the Daiso store located in Busan Premium Outlets. Daiso.

When opening stores, Daiso sets basic conditions to be located in key areas within local commercial districts and to have a net floor area exceeding 330㎡ (100 pyeong). For interior design, it insists on white walls, bright lighting, and aisles wide enough for easy passage relative to the number of products. Chairman Park initially started with warehouse-style stores stacking goods but transformed them into stores with bright lighting and wide aisles to allow customers to browse various products, a style that continues to this day.

'The Evolution of 1,000-Won Items' Series

Recommended items shared on Japanese SNS: Daiso became a foreign tourist attraction
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▶How did Daiso become Korea's representative shopping destination?
② Daiso seizes the recession as an opportunity for rapid growth

Daiso part-timers over Coupang... "OK to work 2 hours"
③ Daiso's penetration into side jobs

Submitting Daiso coupons" children's playground
④ The secret of Daiso capturing teenagers

"What did you come to buy?" Daiso became adults' ant trap
⑤ Targeting diverse interests from beauty to camping and home gardening