Kwak Chang-heon (left), head of GS Retail's sustainability management division, accepts the grand prize in the retail innovation category at the 2026 FAPRA Awards held in Tokyo, Japan. [GS Retail]
Kwak Chang-heon (left), head of GS Retail's sustainability management division, accepts the grand prize in the retail innovation category at the 2026 FAPRA Awards held in Tokyo, Japan. [GS Retail]

GS Retail announced Thursday that it won the grand prize in the retail innovation category at the 2026 Federation of Asia-Pacific Retailers Associations (FAPRA) Awards.

The awards were presented at the 22nd Asia-Pacific Retailers Convention, held from Oct. 7 to Oct. 10 in Tokyo, Japan. The convention draws some 4,000 participants from 18 countries across the Asia-Pacific region and recognizes member companies that have contributed to retail innovation and industry development.

GS Retail was recognized for building an online-to-offline (O4O) ecosystem connecting its digital and physical retail channels and for using AI to improve customer experience and business operations. Its overseas expansion and corporate social responsibility efforts were also cited as factors in the selection.

The company has built an O4O retail ecosystem linking its Woori Dongne GS app to more than 18,600 stores nationwide, including GS25 and GS The Fresh outlets. The app offers services such as quick commerce, Wine25 Plus, a personal refrigerator management feature and pre-order sales.

Overseas, GS25 operates in Vietnam and Mongolia, with a combined 740 stores across the two markets.

GS Shop, the company's home shopping arm, has revamped its mobile app into an "AI lifestyle commerce" platform using generative AI. The app analyzes customers' purchase history, shopping cart activity, search queries and browsing behavior in real time, automatically tailoring more than 50 percent of the screen to individual interests, with AI selecting more than 80 percent of the products displayed.

GS The Fresh, the company's supermarket chain, is restructuring around a franchise-centered business model. With 609 stores, it holds the top position in its segment, with franchised outlets accounting for more than 81 percent of locations. The chain has also refined its "chain operation" system, which standardizes product assortments and provides franchisees with headquarters support for shelf arrangement and ordering.

"It is deeply meaningful that the innovative capabilities and competitiveness we have built in the domestic retail industry have been recognized on the global stage," a GS Retail official said. "We will continue to present new possibilities in retail through O4O and AI-driven innovation."


andy@heraldcorp.com