Merged GS Retail aims to challenge online, offline rivals

The new GS Retail is kicking off in July as GS Group’s retail business unit, the company said Wednesday.

The new entity was created by the marriage of two GS retail arms -- the old GS Retail and GS Home Shopping. The purpose of the merger, decided at the end of 2020, is to integrate the group’s presence in online and offline commerce platforms and boost its competitiveness in the overall retail sector.

The new GS Retail, which officially launches Thursday, will be in charge of operating the country’s No. 1 convenience store chain as well as its supermarkets, its online retail platforms and its home shopping business, the company explained.

Their combined annual sales in 2020 amounted to about 10 trillion won ($8.87 billion), which would collectively make them the country’s third-largest retailer, GS Retail said. If the operating profit from last year were combined, it would rank No. 1 with 400 billion won, the company said.

The company is valued at about 3.8 trillion won in market capitalization, taking in the shares that closed on Tuesday, the company added.

Laying out its future goals, GS Retail said it aims to increase annual transactions to 25 trillion won by 2025, from the current 15.5 trillion won, and will invest 1 trillion won to achieve the target.

“We are the only retailer that can create synergy by combining 15,000 offline retail stores and digital commerce and home shopping platforms,” GS Retail Chief Executive Officer Huh Yeon-soo said.

“Based on our core capabilities, we will provide differentiated values for the customers by combining our on- and offline businesses, as the boundary is blurring in the retail scene.”

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)