Untact Era... GS Retail Establishes 'Drone Delivery' System in Jeju Island

GS Retail, GS Caltex, Jeju Island, and Ministry of Industry
Drone Delivery Demonstration on Jeju Island on the 8th
Order via Mobile App 'My Own Refrigerator'
Enabling Supply of Daily Necessities in Disaster Situations

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] # On the 8th, an elementary school care classroom teacher in the mountainous area of Jeju Island ordered afternoon snacks for 100 students, including 'Idol Sandwich,' through the convenience store GS25's 'My Fridge' application. After a short wait, the snack box loaded on a large drone safely arrived at the school.

GS Retail announced on the 8th that it successfully launched the industry's first pilot service delivering products ordered from GS25 by drone in collaboration with GS Caltex, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and Jeju Province.

On the day, GS Retail and GS Caltex held a drone delivery demonstration event at the GS Caltex Musucheon Gas Station in Jeju. The two companies observed the process of loading products ordered by customers through GS25's mobile app onto drones at a nearby gas station and delivering them to the destination. About 40 people attended the event, including Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong, Choi Nam-ho, Director of Manufacturing Industry Policy at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Park Jong-hyun, Director of the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, Heo Se-hong, President of GS Caltex, and Jo Yoon-sung, President of GS Retail.

Once the drone delivery network through GS Retail store infrastructures such as GS25, GS The Fresh, and Lalavla is fully commercialized, it will establish a logistics network enabling rapid access from stores located in island areas such as Yeonpyeongdo, Baengnyeongdo, and Marado to nearby subsidiary islands and mountainous regions. This will allow for the swift supply of daily necessities such as bottled water, lunch boxes, ingredients, and emergency medicines in urgent disaster situations that were previously difficult to access through existing distribution infrastructure, helping to resolve logistics blind spots.

Following the opening of the fully unmanned convenience store 'GS25 Eulji Smart Store' in March, GS Retail has taken a step closer to digital innovation with the success of this drone logistics delivery. GS Retail plans to strengthen its lifestyle platform functions together with GS Caltex.

Jo Yoon-sung, President of GS Retail, emphasized, "GS Retail is utilizing its offline platform of over 15,000 stores nationwide to strengthen its role as social infrastructure in an era of low birthrate and aging population, striving to enhance customer value and service. The introduction of drone logistics signifies not only logistics efficiency and accelerated digital transformation but also the expansion of community contribution activities such as resolving logistics blind spots."

Meanwhile, GS Retail has contributed to expanding sales channels for Jeju agricultural, marine, and livestock products through agreements with Jeju Province over the past decade. It has actively supported disaster relief activities within Jeju, including during the 2016 heavy snowfall. Additionally, GS Retail has contributed to expanding electric vehicle charging stations and smart grid systems through GS25 stores in Jeju.

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