E-Mart recently drew attention by announcing that it will always sell the lowest prices for 40 daily necessities, and announcing that it will maintain the lowest price every day compared to Coupang, an e-commerce company, as well as large marts such as Lotte Mart and Homeplus.
It is analyzed as a strategy to establish itself as a leader in the distribution industry by securing customers that were lost online in line with the expectation of recovery of offline demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The lowest price guarantee system is a strategy proposed as a core business of Coupang along with rocket delivery. Since 2016, Coupang has been operating a ‘lowest price matching system’ that directly lowers the Coupang selling price at a discount at other online malls.
■ E-Mart, 40 items such as milk, kimchi, and eggs “selling cheaper than Coupang”
E-Mart announced on the 4th that it would cut the prices of essential items in their 40s by 13% on average, such as eggs, rice, milk, toilet paper, and toothbrushes, to sell them at the lowest price at all times. In particular, E-Mart emphasized that it would maintain the lowest price every day compared to large marts Homeplus and Lotte Mart, as well as online mall Coupang.
E-Mart conducts price reductions through price monitoring every morning, and for some product groups, monitors it from time to time and reflects it in the price. In addition, the lowest price for essential items in their 40s is the same at E-Mart stores and SSG.com E-Mart Mall. E-Mart also added that it is not a one-time event, but plans to maintain the lowest price at all times.
An E-Mart official explained, “Amid high prices, the burden on ordinary people’s shopping carts is increasing, and we have introduced a regular lowest price policy to reduce the burden on customers.”
■ Endemic recovery of daily life… Can we recover lost offline demand?
E-Mart’s regular lowest price policy is in the name of lowering the burden on consumers’ shopping carts who are suffering from high prices, but it is also analyzed as a strategy to bring e-commerce demand that has grown rapidly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and establish itself as a strong player in the distribution industry.
In fact, Coupang’s sales last year recorded about 22.25 trillion won, surpassing E-mart’s 16.45 trillion won in separate sales last year. This trend continued in the first quarter of this year. Coupang’s sales in the first quarter of this year were about 6.52 trillion won, exceeding E-Mart’s separate sales of 4.21 trillion won in the first quarter.
However, the industry believes that it is uncertain whether the battle for the lowest price will escalate across the online and offline industries with this policy.
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A distribution industry official said, “Distributors are also interested in the lowest price again as a strategy to respond to the high price era. explained.
Another industry official said, “If you look at customer consumption patterns these days, customers are not only interested in the lowest price, but also various experiences such as payment methods, product delivery status and speed,” he added.