Sales Jump 131.5% in 2020
E-Mart’s U.S. operations made a turnaround last year. E-Mart's U.S. subsidiaries racked up 9.9 billion won in operating profit in 2020. Their sales reached 1,627.2 billion won, a whopping 131.5 percent increase.
E-Mart entered the U.S. market in 2018. It currently owns eight subsidiaries in the United States including E-Mart America, Chang Huh Corp., Good Food Holdings, PK Retail Holdings, New Bristol Farm, and New Seasons Market. All but E-mart America and Chang Huh Corp. are local retailers.
E-Mart’s rapid turnaround in the United States is attributed to its strategy of acquiring local retailers instead of setting up its own stores. In 2018, t acquired Good Food Holdings, a local distributor, for about 330 billion won. In the following year, it bought organic food retail store New Seasons Market for 300 billion won. Through these firms, it quickly increased the number of local stores from 27 in 2019 to 51 in 2020. All of these stores are operating under local signboards such as Bristol Farms and Metropolitan Market, not E-Mart. They are different from E-Mart stores established in China, Mongolia, and Vietnam.
Shinsegae Group vice chairman Chung Yong-jin has been working hard to foster the U.S. business. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, he made a business trip to the United States in January.