Minister of Industry Visits Dawn Delivery Site: "Nationwide Expansion Will Improve Local Living Conditions"

Minister Andeokgeun Inspects Nationwide Expansion of Dawn Delivery
SSG.com Provides Dawn Delivery Through Three Fulfillment Centers
Legal Revision Needed for Dawn Delivery at Large Mart Stores

Anduk Geun, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, emphasized on the 6th, "If dawn delivery expands nationwide, the living conditions of dual-income couples and single young households will greatly improve, enhancing the residential environment in local areas."

On the same day, Minister Anduk visited the SSG.com fulfillment center, an online dawn delivery site located in Gimpo, and made these remarks.

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Recently, with the increase of dual-income couples and single young households, online shopping sales have grown significantly. In January this year, offline retail sales such as large supermarkets decreased by 0.3% compared to the same period last year, while online retail sales increased by 16.8%, driving the overall sales growth of 8.6%.

Accordingly, the distribution industry is fiercely competing to provide differentiated services such as same-day delivery and dawn delivery. SSG.com applies artificial intelligence (AI) for demand forecasting and optimal delivery route calculation to provide dawn delivery services. Currently, these services are only available in the metropolitan area, including Seoul and Incheon, from two fulfillment centers located in Gimpo.

However, unlike SSG.com, large supermarkets such as E-Mart, Homeplus, and Lotte Mart, which are subject to operating hour regulations, are prohibited from dawn delivery under current laws. An official from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy stated, "The Legal Affairs Office's judgment is that if the time of goods removal falls within restricted operating hours, it may constitute a legal violation," adding, "If the amendment to the Distribution Industry Development Act allowing dawn delivery by large supermarkets passes, large supermarkets can utilize existing stores as fulfillment centers without new investments and expand dawn delivery nationwide."

The Distribution Industry Development Act stipulates mandatory holiday closures and operating hour restrictions for large supermarkets. Although it does not explicitly prohibit dawn delivery by large supermarkets, in 2012, the Legal Affairs Office issued an authoritative interpretation that removing goods from stores outside operating hours for delivery also constitutes business activity. Therefore, related legal amendments must precede if large supermarkets are to conduct dawn delivery.

Minister Anduk said, "The government decided to rationalize operating regulations to allow large supermarkets to conduct dawn delivery at the livelihood forum in January this year," and urged, "As the recent rise in prices of fruits such as apples and pears is a significant burden on low-income households, SSG.com should strive to stabilize prices of fresh products like fruits and vegetables."

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