Tesco launches home shopping in South Korea
UK supermarket chain, Tesco, has launched its successful home shopping format in South Korea, which has the third highest internet penetration figure in the world.
Tesco.com, the world's largest online grocer (covering 95% of the UK population, 75% of the population of Ireland, and operating in partnership with Safeway in the US) has launched in South Korea. Over 70% of the Korean population have internet access, the third highest penetration figure in the world.
Pilot The operation, called "e-homeplus" will be based in the Samsung Tesco-owned Homeplus store in Ansan, near Seoul on Korea's west coast. This store will act as a pilot from which to research and develop the model further for the Korean market.
The new website, www.homeplus.co.kr, will offer over 15,000 products covering most of the range available in the local hypermarket, including groceries, health and beauty items, small electricals, books and CDs and DVDs. Customers will pay 5000 won (about US$3.80) for deliveries. A British team of five have been working closely with Korean colleagues to develop the new operation since last July.
70,000 orders per week The Tesco.com model of picking internet-ordered groceries from local stores is regarded by many as the most successful in the world: in the UK, Tesco.com's grocery operation is already profitable. Covering 95% of the UK, the site has over a million registered users and receives over 70,000 orders per week. According to recent statistics from NetValue it received over 1.6 million unique visitors during November 2001.
KoreaTesco entered into a joint venture with Samsung in 1999. There are currently 14 Samsung Tesco-owned hypermarkets in Korea - all are branded 'Homeplus'. Samsung Tesco employs 5,300 people, uses 3,500 Korean suppliers and serves 750,000 customers a week.
More Info:
