"These Days, Where Is an Expensive Mart?"... Homeplus Focuses Solely on Quality

Homeplus is shifting the distribution competition, which was centered on price, to focus on quality, and is adopting a differentiation strategy that concentrates on last-mile products and delivery quality.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chunhan] Homeplus announced on the 20th that it will shift the distribution competition trend, which was centered on price, to quality, and adopt a differentiation strategy focusing on last-mile product and delivery quality closest to customers.

Homeplus's quality management can be seen in the premium PB Homeplus Signature launched in November 2019. This PB focuses on quality and value, moving away from cost-effectiveness. Currently, it offers about 2,200 products, double the number from last year, and sales from January to March increased by 60% compared to the same period last year.

In addition, it is making a bold move with the Fresh Quality Innovation System, Fresh A/S, which guarantees 100% quality satisfaction. The core of Fresh A/S is not refunds or exchanges. It is based on Homeplus's confidence and cost competitiveness, developed through continuous research on the services most needed by customers and strengthening product quality since its founding. In fact, since the implementation of Fresh A/S in March 2018, the average monthly return rate is only 0.01%.

Same-day delivery nationwide will also be significantly strengthened. Homeplus, which introduced same-day delivery for the first time in Korea in 2002, will raise the same-day delivery rate to over 83.3%. Homeplus Mart, equipped with logistics functions, serves as a logistics base across the country. Homeplus plans to increase daily deliveries to over 120,000 and expand online-exclusive pickers to 4,000 and delivery vehicles to 3,200 within three years.

A Homeplus official said, “If the purpose of distribution is simple business, 10 or 20 won may be important, but if the customer is the purpose, we must steadfastly focus on quality and service,” adding, “We will continue smart investments from a long-term perspective with our unique fresh operation know-how and optimized system.”

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