Offline retailers including convenience store chains and large supermarkets are drawing more users to their own mobile apps by expanding features and services. Beyond offering inventory and discount information, the apps now provide product storage and sharing, advance orders and game-style content to encourage repeat use.
GS Retail's (007070.KS) Our Neighborhood GS app recorded about 4.9 million monthly active users in September, industry sources said on the 22nd. That is nearly 20% more than the roughly 4.1 million a year earlier. The company expects the figure to top 5 million within this year at the current pace. The app is closing in on major e-commerce platforms such as Gmarket, with 6.6 million users, and 11st, with 6 million. The E-Mart (139480.KS) app and CU's Pocket CU had about 3 million and 2.5 million users respectively, up 11% and 14% from a year earlier.
Retailers are rolling out differentiated services to attract app users. GS Retail has strengthened product storage and sharing functions. Our Refrigerator, launched last month, lets customers store purchased products through the app and use them with family members and others. It signed up 40,000 users in less than a month. The company is also making product searches easier. After enhancing Today's Discovery, an artificial intelligence service that recommends search terms, along with related-product search features, orders completed through search rose about 15% last month from a year earlier.
E-Mart is improving the shopping experience by allowing customers to check in-store inventory levels, prices and promotional information, as well as handle payments and manage benefits, all within the app. One flagship service is Wine Grab, a smart-order platform for alcoholic beverages that lets customers order wine and whiskey through the app and pick them up at a store on their chosen date. The lineup has expanded from about 2,600 items centered on wine and whiskey to roughly 7,000, including popular and traditional Korean liquors.
CU is combining lifestyle content with rewards to drive app visits. CU Play, introduced in June, lets users take part in games, walking challenges and menu recommendations while earning CU points. The accumulated points can be spent like cash at CU stores nationwide and on the Pocket CU app. The company is also using Pocket CU as a standalone sales channel, offering limited-edition products through a weekly pop-up store on the app.
"Convenience store and supermarket apps are expanding from a supporting tool for store visits into shopping platforms," an industry official said. "Strategies that link online and offline operations, connecting customers acquired through the app to store visits and purchases, are also gaining speed."