The SSG.com logo displayed inside the company's headquarters. [SSG.com]
The SSG.com logo displayed inside the company's headquarters. [SSG.com]

SSG.com announced Wednesday that it has sharpened its grocery competitiveness by upgrading its delivery infrastructure and strengthening its paid membership program "SSG 7 Club."

Grocery sales at SSG.com rose 12 percent year-on-year in July, the company said. SSG.com has been broadening its delivery options so customers can receive the products they want at the time of their choosing, combining enhancements to its scheduled delivery service with an expansion of on-demand delivery.

Its scheduled delivery service, "SSG Weekly Delivery," operates out of E-mart stores and has added more granular time-slot options and increased delivery capacity. Sales from the service grew 17 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, with the growth rate widening to nearly 30 percent in July.

On the on-demand side, "Baro Quick" — which delivers products from stores within a 3-kilometer radius in about an hour — has been gaining rapid traction. Order volume jumped 151 percent in the second quarter compared with the first, and was up 244 percent in June versus January. Last month, SSG.com launched a pilot two-hour delivery service out of its E-mart Yangjae and Hanam stores.

SSG.com plans to roll out the two-hour delivery service this month to more than 10 additional stores, including locations in key Seoul districts as well as Busan, South Gyeongsang Province, Daegu and Daejeon, with a target of expanding to up to about 50 stores by year-end. The company aims to build daily delivery processing capacity of up to 150,000 orders by the end of the year.

SSG.com is also generating synergies with E-mart on products and promotions. It has diversified its fresh-food lineup and improved quality by leveraging E-mart's fresh-food strengths, while investing in cold-chain management — including insulated packaging — to preserve freshness during delivery. Online sales from E-mart's flagship promotional event, "Goraeit Festa," also increased, with average daily sales during the second-quarter event up 20 percent from the previous quarter.

The retention rate for "SSG 7 Club" — a paid membership that rewards members with 7 percent of their grocery spending — has surpassed 90 percent. Members' average transaction value was more than 90 percent higher than that of non-members, and their purchase frequency was roughly twice as high. After running weekly membership-linked promotions throughout July, member sales rose 15 percent from the previous month.

"We are accelerating online grocery growth by reinforcing our delivery, product and membership competitiveness," said Choi Taek-won, chief executive of SSG.com. "We will continue to strengthen delivery capabilities so customers can receive the products they need more quickly, whenever they want, while also improving profitability through greater operational efficiency."


korean@heraldcorp.com