The Rise of Young Convenience Store Owners in South Korea
Key Highlights :
In South Korea, a growing number of young people in their 20s and 30s are choosing to open convenience stores for the benefits of having more free time and a higher income compared to office workers. Lee Sung-bong, 25, opened a CU convenience store in southwestern Seoul's Guro District last August, on recommendation from his parents who have been running one for years. “My parents have been in the convenience store business and they suggested I start my own,” Lee said.
The cost of opening a convenience store is relatively low compared to entering other businesses and the job requires no particular qualifications. According to BGF Retail, operator of the country's largest convenience store CU, the portion of new store owners in their 20s increased from 7.4 percent in 2020 to 10.4 percent in 2021 and 16.2 percent in 2022. Similarly, GS25, 7-Eleven also saw its portion of young, self-employed owners increase to 15.8 percent and 13 percent respectively in the same period.
The biggest reason for many young people to jump into the convenience store business is that it costs only 42 million won ($31,777) to open a new store. The starting expense may be different depending on the franchise, but you can say that it costs less than 100 million won at most. Additionally, young store owners are more in tune with what young customers want compared to older store owners. Store owners place orders for all the products they want to sell at their stores and having a sense of trends makes a difference. They are also active in promoting their own business online, which helps franchise firms to raise their brand image while attracting young customers.
Lee Sung-bong has seen his sales jump by more than 30 percent over the last nine months. He remarked that his store has many new and unique items, which has attracted young customers including YouTubers and bloggers. “I think I developed my skills in picking up popular items that my customers like,” he said.
The trend of young people opening convenience stores is a win-win situation for the franchise companies and the young entrepreneurs. The companies benefit from the ability of young store owners to pick up popular items and promote their business online, while the young entrepreneurs benefit from the low cost of opening a new store and the flexible working hours. It remains to be seen if this trend will continue in the future, but for now, it is clear that young people are increasingly turning to convenience stores as an attractive business opportunity.
