‘CJ The Market’ 1st Anniversary... "Leaping Forward as a Food Specialty Mall Responsible for South Korea's Dining Tables"

Providing diverse food culture content including food and entertainment, growing an online mall with over 2 million members
Aiming to become the No.1 'Food Specialty Mall' proposing healthy home-cooked meals 365 days a year beyond just a ready meal specialty mall

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] CJ CheilJedang’s official online mall, ‘CJ THE MARKET,’ has celebrated its first anniversary. The strategy is to leap beyond the initially promoted ‘home meal replacement specialty mall’ to become the number one ‘food specialty mall’ proposing a healthy home-cooked meal lifestyle 365 days a year.

According to CJ CheilJedang on the 8th, ‘CJ THE MARKET,’ which opened last July, has grown into a comprehensive platform service with over 2 million members within a year, thanks to consumer response. This was achieved by differentiating the experience with various food and cultural content based on the accumulated capabilities, know-how, and data from operating the existing company mall.

This year, the achievements have become even more remarkable. In the first half of the year alone, 600,000 new members joined, showing noticeable growth compared to 160,000 members who joined in the second half of last year. The number of orders also increased significantly. The number of orders in the first half reached about 900,000, approaching last year’s annual order volume of 1 million in just six months.

Based on this growth trend, sales are expected to expand significantly. CJ CheilJedang anticipates that ‘CJ THE MARKET’ will achieve sales exceeding 70 billion KRW this year. This represents more than 40% growth compared to last year’s sales of 50 billion KRW. It is expected to solidify its leading position in the industry by boasting the highest sales scale among food industry company malls.

The core driving force behind CJ THE MARKET’s growth is its ‘differentiated service.’ It has strengthened competitiveness with CJ THE MARKET’s unique services such as various product planning exhibitions leading an advanced food culture, meal kit COOKIT, curated menu suggestions tailored to customer preferences, and subscription delivery of various products. Additionally, the premium membership system ‘The Prime’ has been enhanced to provide special benefits and secure loyal customers.

Market hot deals and regular events actively held in the online market have also been effective. In fact, the first regular event held this year, the ‘CJ THE MARKET Wow Week’ promotion, became a hot topic in online communities and mom cafes as a way to purchase CJ CheilJedang products economically. It is evaluated to have contributed to raising the awareness of ‘CJ THE MARKET’ by rapidly emerging as a ‘new normal cost-effective food shopping’ trend.

CJ CheilJedang plans to further strengthen the competitiveness of ‘CJ THE MARKET’ as a ‘food specialty mall’ responsible for consumers’ dietary life, anticipating continuous expansion of consumption through online platforms.

To this end, the product portfolio will be expanded. To enable consumers to solve all their food needs at ‘CJ THE MARKET,’ a variety of CJ CheilJedang products as well as fresh and seasonal foods such as fruits and vegetables, and B2B-type products that allow economical purchases of bulk items will be introduced. As a leading company in the HMR market, the product curation service proposing menus and table settings tailored to customers’ food culture, lifestyle, and preferences will also be strengthened.

Furthermore, based on customer data analysis, digital marketing will be expanded by planning optimal product content, producing brand storytelling digital content, and offering various visual experiences. In addition, to maximize customer satisfaction, attention will be paid to the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) so that customers can conveniently shop at ‘CJ THE MARKET.’

A CJ CheilJedang official stated, “We will continue to grow ‘CJ THE MARKET’ as a representative platform of customer food culture lifestyle responsible for Korea’s dining tables.”

Meanwhile, to celebrate the first anniversary of ‘CJ THE MARKET,’ CJ CheilJedang has prepared a consumer event. The ‘Best Awards Event’ for CJ CheilJedang products loved over the past year will be held under the concept of a ‘virtual first birthday party.’ Customers who pay more than 50,000 KRW will be entered into a draw to receive prizes such as a gold card of appreciation, CJ THE MARKET goods consisting of a silicone ladle and tongs, and CJ THE MARKET gift cards. Additionally, an event offering discount coupons for the top 100 products sold on CJ THE MARKET will also be held.

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