E-mart Peacock gains footing in packaged food market

E-mart’s own packaged food brand Peacock is fast gaining firm footing in the nation’s home meal replacement market, its latest sales data showed Thursday.

Following its launch two years ago as Shinsegae Group vice chairman and heir apparent Chung Yong-jin’s pet project, its sales reached 68.3 billion won ($59.2 million) in the first 10 months this year, up 55.2 percent from the same period last year, the company said.

Peacock now makes up more than 10 percent of packaged food sales at E-mart, a Shinsegae affiliate and the nation’s largest discount store chain.

“As the hypermarket sector here is saturated, E-mart attempted to differentiate itself from other players with Peacock products that can only be found at its stores,” Kim Tae-euk, a director of the Peacock brand said.

Peacock offers over 500 items that include Korean soups and other side dishes, as well as Indian and Vietnamese food.

“Next year, we will expand the number of products to 1,000, but plan to produce them in small quantities to keep the brand’s high-quality image,” Kim said.

Tapping into the private brands’ potential was part of Chung’s ambitious plans to transform Shinsegae Food, the group’s food distributing and manufacturing unit, into a well-rounded food behemoth that could generate annual sales of 5 trillion won by 2023. The firm posted 652.1 billion won in sales in 2014.

The group’s vice chairman also visits E-mart’s headquarters once a week to test out newly developed menu items before their official launch and promotes the Peacock products via his social media channels.

Unlike other private labels that charge lower prices than branded rivals, Peacock focused on sharpening its non-price competitive edge by upgrading quality and diversifying product range.

“Taste is our top priority above all,” Kim said.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)