Mi Hyun Kim, of South Kore,a hits shot from the ninth fairway in the second round of play at the Ginn Open LPGA golf tournament in Reunion, Fla., on Friday, April 28, 2006. She ended the day with a score of 136, 8-under-par for the tournament.(AP Photo/John Raoux)



Continued influx of big supermarkets into Busan

Big distributors with over 1,000 pyong continue to open in the Busan market. One of the biggest distributors in the nation, E-land Group, opened its New Core Outlet on the site of Shinsegae Department Store, Nongpyup opened its Bujeon branch inside the Bujeon traditional market, and Lotte is planning to open its Lotte Mart near the Agricultural Wholesale Market in Umgung-dong in May.

New Core, affiliate of E-land Group, announced yesterday that it would open its New Core Outlet in Gyejeong-dong, Busan with over 7,000 pyong, where the Shinsegae Department Store was located. It also plans to open a branch in Ulsan on March 27 to extend its distribution network. Currently it runs 15 outlets across the nation and 10 of the 15 outlets have opened since 1992.

It is known that New Core Outlet, with premium quality and services, offers food, lifestyle, fashion, sports, and cultural education corners, which inevitably causes competition with other local distributors.

According to the Nongpyup Bujeon branch, it deals with fruits, vegetables, meat, seafood, health foods, home supplies, and baked goods. Kim Jung Hye, head of the Nongpyup branch, said, “We deal with only high quality brands and environmentally friendly products to differentiate ourselves from other distributors.”

There has been fierce competition for survival between domestic discount markets, run by conglomerates, and small supermarkets, since the conglomerates have entered the large-scale discount markets. Local experts say, “This collision has occurred in the areas of Busan, Kyongnam, and Ulsan. The growing influx of domestic conglomerates into the local markets has been not evaluated,” worrying, “the phenomenon will trigger exploitation of local workers in Busan with negative effects on the Busan distribution market.”
/ 입력시간: 2006. 04.29. 11:30