Jilgyeongi Launches Neighborhood Mart Exclusive Delivery App 'RoMarket'

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] Women’s health specialist company ‘Jilgyungyi’ announced on the 2nd that it will launch the neighborhood mart-exclusive delivery application (app) service ‘Romarket.’

Romarket creates a mobile app for the requested mart within 20 minutes through remote support work upon the franchisee’s request. Consumers can immediately place delivery orders online.

Small mart business owners can easily create their own online mart by joining the Romarket app, allowing them to retain existing customers as well as attract new ones. Additionally, the POS (Point of Sale) automatic linkage system enables easy inventory management.

According to the ‘Nationwide City and Province Retail Sales Trends’ announced by Statistics Korea on the 14th of last month, retail sales in four of the seven major metropolitan cities?Daegu, Gwangju, Daejeon, and Ulsan?decreased compared to the same period last year. Except for Ulsan, where the local economy has been depressed due to the shipbuilding industry downturn, the decline in retail sales in Daegu, Gwangju, and Daejeon is the first in nine years since related statistics began being compiled in 2010. Among the nine provinces, six?including Gyeonggi, Gangwon, Chungbuk, Jeonnam, and Gyeongbuk?also showed a decline in retail sales. It is also the first time that retail sales decreased in five provinces excluding Gyeongbuk.

On the other hand, the online share of total retail sales exceeded 20% for the first time last year. This means that one out of five existing offline store customers no longer visits the store.

Choi Wonseok, CEO of Jilgyungyi, said, “Large offline distribution and delivery companies are waging a distribution war based on massive capital. However, neighborhood marts are being left out of distribution trends as they struggle to build their own apps or promote and develop online platforms.” He added, “With the recent prolonged recession and the COVID-19 pandemic, neighborhood marts are facing a mass closure crisis.”

He continued, “Now, switching to app-based delivery for neighborhood marts will be the last escape route for survival,” and expressed hope that “this will become an online platform service that can realistically support their survival.”

Meanwhile, Jilgyungyi is making efforts to activate the app by organizing its own business division and increasing personnel for the smooth operation of Romarket. It plans to carry out app design revamps, technology upgrades, and service expansions with the goal of recruiting franchisees nationwide and achieving over 10 million cumulative app downloads in the near future.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.