According to a survey released Wednesday by the Korea Federation of SMEs, 72 of 100 small and medium-sized enterprises supplying Homeplus reported suffering losses due to the hypermarket chain's operational changes, including store reductions and closures. [Homeplus]
According to a survey released Wednesday by the Korea Federation of SMEs, 72 of 100 small and medium-sized enterprises supplying Homeplus reported suffering losses due to the hypermarket chain's operational changes, including store reductions and closures. [Homeplus]

72% of Homeplus suppliers report losses, vs. 2% at E-mart and 8% at Lotte Mart

63% of Homeplus suppliers see sales drop; direct-purchase margin at 20.2%

72% of Homeplus private-brand suppliers report lower operating profit

Seven in 10 small and medium-sized enterprises supplying Homeplus reported losses due to the chain's operational changes, including store reductions, a new survey shows. Some 63 percent said their sales had declined — a higher rate than suppliers reported at any other major hypermarket.

According to the Korea Federation of SMEs' "2026 Survey on Trading Conditions for SMEs in Offline Large-Scale Retail Outlets," released Wednesday, 72 of 100 surveyed Homeplus suppliers — 72 percent — said they had been hurt by the chain's operational strategy changes, including store downsizing and closures.

That figure far exceeded the rates at E-mart (2 percent), Lotte Mart (8 percent) and Hanaro Mart (6 percent). All 72 Homeplus suppliers that reported losses cited delayed payment settlements as a form of harm.

Sales declines were also pronounced. Some 63 percent of Homeplus suppliers said their sales fell compared with the previous year. Only 6 percent reported an increase, while 31 percent said sales were unchanged.

The gap with other hypermarkets was wide. The share of suppliers reporting sales declines was 28 percent at E-mart, 31 percent at Lotte Mart and 26 percent at Hanaro Mart. Hanaro Mart had the highest share of suppliers reporting sales growth at 22 percent, followed by Lotte Mart at 12 percent, E-mart at 8 percent and Homeplus at 6 percent.

Across all four hypermarkets, 37 percent of the 400 surveyed SMEs reported lower sales, while 12 percent reported growth and 51 percent saw no change. Homeplus suppliers' sales-decline rate was 26 percentage points above the overall average.

Assessments of trading conditions also differed. Some 18 percent of Homeplus suppliers said conditions had worsened over the past two years, compared with 13 percent at Lotte Mart and 8 percent each at E-mart and Hanaro Mart.

The average margin rate on direct-purchase transactions — in which a hypermarket buys products outright — was 21 percent across all chains. The margin rate is calculated as the difference between the shelf price and the supplier's delivery price, expressed as a share of the shelf price.

By chain, Lotte Mart posted the highest average margin rate at 23 percent, followed by E-mart at 21.7 percent, Homeplus at 20.2 percent and Hanaro Mart at 19.2 percent. Among the 90 Homeplus direct-purchase suppliers surveyed, individual margin rates ranged from a low of 10 percent to a high of 40 percent.

The average sales commission rate for suppliers operating under special-purchase or lease arrangements was 20.2 percent. Lotte Mart was highest at 23.1 percent, followed by Homeplus at 21.8 percent, Hanaro Mart at 15.6 percent and E-mart at 15 percent. However, only 36 suppliers across all chains used these arrangements, including just 10 at Homeplus, so the figures should be interpreted with caution.

Small businesses supplying Homeplus with private-brand products also fared poorly. Among 25 Homeplus private-brand suppliers, 72 percent said both sales and operating profit had declined from the previous year. The comparable figures were 20.6 percent for E-mart private-brand suppliers, 23.5 percent for Lotte Mart and 20.8 percent for Hanaro Mart.

Among all 117 private-brand suppliers across the four hypermarkets, 32.5 percent each reported declines in sales and operating profit. Only 14.5 percent reported increases.

The survey was conducted from July 20 to Oct. 1, covering 100 SMEs each from E-mart, Lotte Mart, Homeplus and Hanaro Mart, for a total of 400 companies.


hong@heraldcorp.com