Offline retailers including convenience store chains and large supermarkets are broadening the services offered on their own apps as they move to win more users. Beyond checking inventory and listing discounts, the apps now handle product storage and sharing, advance orders and game-style content, giving shoppers more reasons to open them.
Our Neighborhood GS, the app run by GS Retail (007070), recorded about 4.9 million monthly active users in September, according to industry figures released on the 22nd. That is nearly 20% more than the roughly 4.1 million a year earlier. The company expects the app to pass 5 million users this year if the pace holds. The gap with major e-commerce platforms is also narrowing, with Gmarket at 6.6 million users and 11st at 6 million. The E-Mart (139480) app and CU's Pocket CU drew about 3 million and 2.5 million monthly users, up 11% and 14% from a year earlier.
Leading companies are expanding in-app services to capture those users. GS Retail has led with features that let shoppers store products and share them with others. Our Refrigerator, launched last month, allows items stored in the app to be used jointly with family members, and it signed up 40,000 users in less than a month. The company is also upgrading product search. After strengthening Today's Discovery, an artificial intelligence service that suggests search terms, along with related-product search, orders completed through search rose about 15% last month from a year earlier.
E-Mart is linking pre-visit product checks, payment and benefit management through its app to make shopping easier. A key feature lets users check stock levels, prices and promotions for items sold in stores. Wine Grab, a smart-order service for alcohol, allows customers to order wine and whiskey through the app and pick them up at a store on a chosen date. The selection has grown to about 7,000 items, including mass-market and traditional Korean liquors, from about 2,600 centered on wine and whiskey.
CU is drawing app users by pairing everyday content with point rewards. CU Play, introduced in June, lets users earn CU points by taking part in games, walking challenges and menu recommendations. The points can be used like cash at CU stores nationwide and on the Pocket CU app. The chain is also strengthening Pocket CU as a sales channel in its own right, selling limited-edition goods through a Weekly Pop-up Store.
"Convenience store and supermarket apps are expanding from tools that support store visits into shopping platforms," an industry official said. "Strategies that link customers acquired on the app to store visits and purchases are also gaining momentum."