South Korea: World’s Highest Convenience Store Density

Three bite-sized insights into Asian Retail

Author

Peter Park
February 01, 2025

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Hello ,

South Korean F&B trends are fast and furious.

25 years ago, I remember doing quick errands for my parents to corner shops that acted like a convenience store. Kim’s Convenience reminds me of those memories of personal interactions.

Since then, the South Korean economy developed significantly.

We already know about densely populated cities and trend-sensitive consumers.

But what sits behind the incredible rise and fall of food trends is the country’s vast and efficient CVS network of 55,000+ stores.

Most such trends like Dubai Chocolate and Jumbo Instant Noodle took off directly from CVS.

Even Chestnut Tiramisu aired on Korea Netflix's “Culinary Show” and was subsequently developed and launched at GS25 within one month of the show.

As my friend Kathyrn Read says, margins, frequent discounts and competition mean that this channel is not for everyone and every product.

We will also look at the 2025 global consumer sentiment and what makes Taiwan a unique market.

One month down, eleven to go!

Yours Truly,
Peter Park / 박규형

Which Asian countries are more optimistic in 2025?

To summarise:

  • Global average is 71% optimistic, up 1% compared to 2024.

  • 70-90% of India, South East Asia and Latin America are optimistic

  • Low 70% optimistic from the US, AU, NZ, Singapore and Canada

  • 50-70% for developed European and South Korea

A few commentaries:

  • China and US economies are resilient. Their high-spending travellers will be positive for tourism-based economies.

  • Low 70% for Poland and Hungary as Europe’s most optimistic consumers. This highlights their relatively low cost of labour and logistical advantages.

  • Japan has the lowest optimism at 38% despite the tourism boost. This is understandable in a country that has maintained a zero interest rate for 25 years, and a negative rate for the last 10 years. The recent inflation has also put pressure on the cost of living.

  • Indian consumer sentiment (76%) saw a massive 11% from 2024.

Countries with higher optimism are generally high-risk, high-return. You still need to do the market research and make the right investment. Opportunity windows in developed economies continue to narrow.

My two cents

South Korea: World’s Highest Convenience Store Density

There are 55,000+ such stores in Korea, a country 100 times smaller than Australia / USA. This is more than all McDonald's combined around the world.

🏪 CU: 17,762 stores

🏪 Life at GS25: 17,390 stores

🏪 7-Eleven: 13,170 stores

🏪 Emart 24: 6,700 stores

They are expanding aggressively in Mongolia, Central Asia and Southeast Asia.

The density of 950 people per store is also double the density of the second-highest country - Taiwan.

Korean CVS stores are a highly systemised and automated franchise model that anyone can buy into to generate small but consistent cash flow.

A rise of single-households and population concentration in Seoul (10m population) have also fuelled the increase.

It is a great model that serves more than what we consider the usual 'convenience'. Think post office, currency exchange, restaurant, rest pit, and more recently espresso.

So how effective is CVS as a sales channel? See below for practical implications.

Only worth it for certain products

It's hard realistically to be listed in the CS channel unless your product is a daily necessity or ultra on trend. If you do get listed, chances are it's just 1-2SKUs and then you have a lot of work to do really taking care of the channel (with your importer).

It's volume business so for any kind of product which needs more storytelling or brand development, the effort required to stay listed probably isn't worth the revenue it would generate

My good friend Kathryn Read

What Chocolate Export taught me about Taiwan

My first ever commercial export conversation was to sell chocolate to Family Mart in Taiwan.

It didn't really go anywhere because I didn't know Taiwan's retail landscape, consumer behaviour and sound export deal structure.

Instead, I simply got to know more about this faraway island economy:

💲 20th largest GDP (US$700B expected to grow to US$1T by 2029)

💲 GDP per capita (US$33K) surpassed Japan in 2024 and is expected to surpass South Korea in 2025

📱 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) makes up 30% of TWSE (Taiwan Stock Exchange), is the country's largest company, and is the world's 10th largest company with an annual revenue of US$1.75T. Wields a 65% global market for chip manufacturing!

🥃 World's 4th largest importer of Scotch (US$0.5B TAM)

🛒 World's most profitable Costco is in the Central Taiwan city of Taichung

🏪 World's second-highest convenience store density (1st is South Korea)

💎 World's highest luxury spend per capita (ahead of South Korea and China)

There's a lot more to learn about this fascinating country of 23 million and it's a pleasure to be working with a couple of buyers in Whisky and F&B. More to come.

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