e-mart () is the largest retailer in South Korea. There were 160 stores across the country as of December 2016. It was founded on 12 November 1993 by Shinsegae as the first discount retailer in South Korea. E-Mart is the oldest and largest discount store chain in Korea with total sales volume exceeding US$9.4 billion in 2009. With new store openings and acquisition of

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

Korea in 2006, E-Mart is enjoying its retail leadership in the discount store market. E-mart offers everything from food to clothes to diapers, and provides a very large variety of merchandise. E-mart has a website, where products can be bought or viewed online. E-Mart is the first Korean retailer to open a retail store in China with the aim to become one of top leading global retailers. In January 2011, there were 27 stores in China. By February 2014, China's store count shrunk to 13 stores.

History

E-Mart opened its first store in Chang-dong, Dobong-gu, Seoul on November 12, 1993, and opened its first E-Mart Ilsan branch (No. 2) in Ilsan New Town on September 8, 1994. It was the first large retail store in South Korea. It was constructed by Kumho Engineering & Construction at the time, and when the friction between Kumho Engineering & Construction and E-Mart broke out, Kumho E-Mart became the main body of lease. On July 7, 1995, the third Ansan branch (closed in December 2012) opened, and on December 1, 1995, the fourth Bupyeong branch (closed on June 28, 2018). On November 22, 1996, the fifth store opened in Jeju, and on November 30, 1996, the sixth store opened in Bundang. On February 1, 1997, it became the first Korean retailer to enter China and opened its seventh E-Mart store and first E-Mart store in Shanghai, China. On April 29, 1997, the company opened its eighth Namwon branch, its ninth Anyang branch on August 14, 1997, and its tenth Seobusan branch on August 29, 1997. On October 1, 2004, E-Mart opened an Internet shopping mall. In May 2006, Wal-Mart acquired Wal-Mart Korea, converting 16 Wal-Mart stores into E-Mart stores. At this time, Wal-Mart Korea was acquired and changed to Shinsegae Mart, and in 2008 it was completely merged with E-Mart. Since 2003, E-Mart has implemented a "lowest compensation system" that gives gift certificates worth 5,000 won if they are more expensive than other discount stores in the commercial area (within a radius of 5 kilometers), but abolished them on August 16, 2007, saying that some advertisements are false hype. As of September 2009, E-Mart has 127 distribution centers and 4 distribution centers in South Korea, with 22 stores in the People's Republic of China. E-Mart stores in China also sell Korean products. On May 13, 2011, Kim's Club Mart was acquired. It opened in

Ho Chi Minh (: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as (' Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), (' Old father of the people') and by other aliases, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He served as P ...

City on 28 December 2015. On 8 April 2016, the "Mart" experience center was opened in

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea ...

, Kizania, and on 28 July 2016, it was opened in

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. It announced the withdrawal from China on 31 May 2017. On May 16, 2018, Gyeongsan branch and Bupyeong branch closed due to poor performance and overlapping commercial districts with Gyeyang branch, Shizikolong Skychae will be built after demolition, and Bupyeong branch will be built in Bupyeong Jiwell. In addition, the company closed its Ulsan Hakseong Branch, Goyang Duck Branch, Incheon Branch, Gwangju Sangmu Branch, and Seobusan Branch and sold all of Costco Korea's shares to Costco's Washington headquarters. In 2021, E-Mart 24 convenience stores has expanded to Malaysia to directly compete with CU, in which that E-Mart 24's first Malaysian store launched a little later at the same year. In January 2022, E-Mart acquired a majority stake (80.01%) in the former eBay Korea, which it renamed as " Gmarket Global".

EBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

retained a 19.99% stake in the company. In December 2022, E-Mart 24 launched in Singapore with the launch of the first two outlets on Christmas Holidays. During the launching event at Jurong Point outlet, chief executive Andy Choi has planned to launch 300 stores within the next five years.

Controversies

Food Safety * In September 2007, the Korea Food and Drug Administration announced that chlorphenapir, a pesticide component, was detected above the standard in E-Mart's first water powder green tea sold under its own brand. * On November 28, 2008, the Agricultural Quality Management Agency cracked down on E-Mart's Namyangju branch marking the country of origin as U.S. on the top of the meat package, but double marking as Australian was found on the barcode below.

References

External links

Official website

Official English websiteE-mart Internet shopping mall

Mongolian site
{{in lang, mn
Vietnamese siteEmartmall Vietnamese site
Shinsegae Group Discount stores Retail companies of South Korea Retail companies established in 2011 Supermarkets of South Korea Companies listed on the Korea Exchange