Co-branding Strategy of Village Supermarkets
Local supermarkets facing economic difficulties due to major discount stores, such as Mega Mart and E-mart, have created a co-brand “Hatvit Chon” which includes over 5,000 local supermarkets in Busan. They developed a series of the brand and applied the same prices to the products. In addition, members of the association are supposed to gradually replace their current signboard names with Hatvit Chon.
“During the 11 years since major discount stores were introduced in the nation, over 20 major outlets have opened in Busan. In the first year, we thought that we could co-exist, but small local supermarkets couldn’t keep up with the growth rate of the major discount stores,” adding, “Busan is the worst region to run small supermarkets and the density of the major discount stores is highest.” said one of the local supermarket owners.
Chung Yong Mo said, “Over 50,000 Busan retailers and nation-wide chain supermarkets had to co-develop a competitive brand against the major discount stores.” Therefore, they got together and coined a new brand called Hatvit Chon as a way to survive in the fiercely competitive environment in the nation.
Until now, local supermarkets have sold products made by domestic conglomerates, but the conglomerates have not supplied their products to small supermarkets at discounted prices, while offering discounted prices to major discount stores. This caused the competitiveness of the small village supermarkets to worsen. Hatvit Chon now provides beverages, soy sauces, and laundry detergents through nation-wide branches from April.
From April on, small village supermarkets are supposed to sell the Hatvit Chon products with a Hatvit Chon brand logo. Through this distinguishing marketing strategy, they can expect to be more competitive. The association also plans to foster additional delivery services.
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 / 입력시간: 2006. 03.29. 07:51
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