Shinsegae Group has difficulty in accelerating the growth of its convenience store chain "With Me," which was launched a year ago.
According to Shinsegae on June 28, the number of With Me convenience stores stood at 708, far lower than the targeted number of 1,000 which the group planned to achieve until the end of last year.
As of the end of 2014, the number of With Me stores stood at 501, falling 50 percent behind the group's targeted number. Over the past six months, the growth was limited only to about 200.
Shinsegae Group acquired the With Me convenience store chain in December 2013 and relaunched it in July 2014 under the motto of "a convenience store beneficial both for franchisees and franchiser." Shinsegae pursued the motto under its three principles including "no royalty," "no 24/7 opening" and "no penalty for middle-of-the-contract cancellation."
The With Me chain was relaunched with 137 stores. In a situation where the overall retail industry suffers from sluggish sales, convenience stores are the only business segment that grows thanks to the increase of one- or two-person households. Taking this demographic dynamics into account, Shinsegae jumped into the convenience store business.
