Seven Eleven, Ministop Integration 'Speed Battle'... Establishing a Three-Strong System

Currently 850 out of 2600 converted
Goal to complete all by the end of next year
CU and Emart24 announce next year's win-win plan
Each company begins efforts to attract franchise owners

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Seven Eleven is accelerating its integration with Korea Ministop. This is to avoid repeating the decade-long process experienced during the By The Way integration and to minimize the defection of store owners. Through this, they plan to reduce the gap in the number of stores with CU and GS25 and firmly establish a 'big three system.'

According to Seven Eleven on the 20th, as of the end of last month, 850 stores have completed the brand transition from Korea Ministop to Seven Eleven. This accounts for 32.6% of the total 2,600 Korea Ministop stores, and the plan is to complete the transition by the end of next year.

The current brand transition work for Korea Ministop is proceeding according to a monthly plan. Since it is necessary to change everything from signage, interior design, facility fixtures, to IT systems just like opening a new store, a bulk transition is practically impossible.

Seven Eleven plans to enhance competitiveness by integrating Korea Ministop's strengths, such as spacious stores and specialized ready-to-eat foods, with the next-generation platform Foodream. Foodream is a future-oriented convenience store model that boasts diverse and differentiated food offerings and spacious, pleasant stores, significantly contributing to franchisees' profit increase and brand competitiveness. Currently, over 1,200 stores nationwide are operating, with average daily sales about 1.5 times higher than regular stores.

However, at present, the acquisition of Korea Ministop has not yet yielded profitability. According to Korea Seven's Q3 report, Ministop Lotte CVS711 (Korea Ministop) recorded sales of 497.6 billion KRW and a net loss of 6.7 billion KRW from the end of March to the end of Q3 this year. The deficit, which has continued since the previous fiscal year, is still ongoing.

Exterior image of 7-Eleven. (Photo by 7-Eleven)

A Seven Eleven official said, "The integration work with Korea Ministop is progressing smoothly," adding, "We are operating various win-win programs such as expanded waste support for convenience foods and refrigerated products, labor consultation services, store safety insurance, and support for family events, and we will continue to do our best for mutual growth with franchisees."

Meanwhile, each company has launched win-win plans for next year to attract franchisees. CU plans to increase the monthly waste support fund limit for franchisees from 400,000 KRW to 500,000 KRW and introduce a return support fund for products that have not been sold for a long time to reduce the burden on franchisees for ordering new products. The return support fund will be paid quarterly at 50,000 KRW based on the new product introduction rate in the previous quarter. The loan limit for the win-win cooperation fund interest support system, designed to help franchisees struggling with high interest rates, has been significantly expanded from 20 million KRW to 50 million KRW.

Emart24 has decided to expand compensation for products ordered by franchisees but not delivered from fresh and convenience foods to dairy products. If a franchise store cannot operate for more than seven days due to natural disasters such as flooding, a living support fund of 1 million KRW will be provided. Considering the increase in labor costs due to the minimum wage hike, they will increase support for business owners' vacations and provide funeral service benefits to franchise stores at the same level as employees. GS25 plans to announce its win-win plan within this month, and Seven Eleven will do so next month.

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