Kurly N Mart marks first anniversary

Membership-driven repeat customers and reliable delivery fuel growth; anniversary promotions offer wide range of discounts

A screen from the Kurly N Mart service. [Provided by Naver]
A screen from the Kurly N Mart service. [Provided by Naver]

The partnership between Naver and Kurly is delivering strong results.

Naver said Monday that Kurly N Mart, the online grocery service it launched jointly with Kurly, has seen its transaction volume grow roughly tenfold in the year since it went live.

Kurly N Mart, which launched in September last year, is a dedicated online grocery storefront within Naver Plus Store, also known as Neplus.

Naver credited the rapid growth to a solid base of repeat customers built around the Naver Plus membership program. According to Naver, strong grocery purchasing patterns were observed particularly among shoppers in their 30s and 40s — the core grocery-buying demographic. More than 72 percent of customers who had used Kurly N Mart 10 or more times fell in that age group, and they also recorded the highest repurchase rate among those who bought at least twice.

Reliable delivery has also been a key growth driver, Naver said. More than 80 percent of Kurly N Mart transactions were generated through the Neplus app. After the introduction of same-day delivery, orders placed between 6 a.m. and noon rose 34 percent within a month.

The two companies plan to strengthen personalized recommendations and product competitiveness based on purchasing data accumulated over the past year.

As a first step, they will source competitively priced products from Naver's Smart Store platform and feature them through an "N+ Selection" section within Kurly N Mart.

Drawing on shopping data accumulated through Neplus, the service will refine product recommendations tailored to each user's interests. In the second half of the year, the companies plan to expand into "discovery-based recommendations" — a feature that synthesizes a user's varied shopping interests and context to surface new grocery needs.

To mark its first anniversary, Kurly N Mart is holding the "Kurly N Mart 1st Anniversary Festa" from Monday through Sept. 6, offering a range of discounts. [Provided by Naver]
To mark its first anniversary, Kurly N Mart is holding the "Kurly N Mart 1st Anniversary Festa" from Monday through Sept. 6, offering a range of discounts. [Provided by Naver]

A range of anniversary promotions has also been prepared. Kurly N Mart is running the "Kurly N Mart 1st Anniversary Festa" from Monday through Sept. 6, offering discounts of up to 56 percent on a curated selection of popular products — with a focus on meat items that have consistently drawn strong demand over the past year.

Shoppers can earn discount coupons of up to 50 percent based on how many days they check in during the event period, and a prize draw will also be held. Every day at 11 a.m., a limited number of items — including the KF365 Grade 1+ antibiotic-free white eggs, a signature Kurly N Mart product, as well as fresh foods and daily essentials such as toilet paper — will go on sale for 100 won on a first-come, first-served basis. A relay sale in partnership with major domestic food companies will also run throughout the event, giving shoppers access to popular products at competitive prices.

"We will continue to work closely with Kurly across products, logistics and marketing to deliver an even more convenient grocery shopping experience for Kurly N Mart users," said Kim Pyeong-song, Naver's grocery and leisure business leader.

Meanwhile, buoyed in part by the performance of Kurly N Mart, Kurly posted a record operating profit of 27.4 billion won ($19.9 million) in the second quarter — a surge of 1,991 percent from the same period a year earlier.


sjpark@heraldcorp.com