Why it matters. Convenience stores are a barometer of South Korean consumer spending and daily life, so steady growth signals resilient domestic demand even as the broader economy faces headwinds.
Background. South Korea has one of the world's densest convenience store networks, with tens of thousands of outlets that function as far more than corner shops—offering banking, parcel pickup, ready meals, and bill payment. GS25 and CU are domestic chains that have overtaken global brands like 7-Eleven in scale, and the sector is closely watched as a proxy for everyday consumption. The figures come from WiseApp·Retail, a widely cited private analytics firm whose card-based estimates the Korean press treats as an industry benchmark.
What to watch next. Watch whether the chains' growth holds as they increasingly compete with e-commerce players like Coupang and Naver for consumers' routine, small-ticket spending.
Spending at South Korea’s four largest convenience store chains reached an estimated 12.56 trillion won (roughly US$9 billion) between January and April 2025, up 3.1 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to data released on June 2 by WiseApp·Retail, a Seoul-based firm that analyzes real-time payment and app usage data.
The figure continues a steady, multi-year expansion for an industry that has become a fixture of daily Korean life. Compared with the same four-month window in 2022, spending has climbed 25.9 percent, an increase of 2.58 trillion won.
Four Years of Uninterrupted Growth
WiseApp·Retail tracked the combined estimated payments of four chains: GS25, CU, 7-Eleven, and Emart24. The first three are South Korea’s dominant homegrown and global convenience brands, while Emart24 is operated by Shinsegae’s Emart, the country’s largest discount-retail group.
The year-on-year trend shows consistent gains for the January–April period:
- 2022: 9.98 trillion won
- 2023: 11.39 trillion won
- 2024: 12.18 trillion won
- 2025: 12.56 trillion won
The pattern points to durable demand rather than a one-off spike, with each year building on the last.
Who Leads the Market
By total estimated spending over the four months, GS25 ranked first, followed by CU, 7-Eleven, and Emart24. GS25 also topped the field for average monthly number of transactions among major commerce brands, with CU second. Notably, the transaction ranking placed convenience stores alongside e-commerce giants: Coupang (Korea’s leading online marketplace, often compared to Amazon) and Naver / Naver Pay (the payment arm of the country’s top search portal) appeared in the mix, underscoring how convenience stores compete with online platforms for everyday purchases.
How the Numbers Were Measured
The estimates are based on credit- and debit-card transactions tagged with each brand’s name, drawn from Korean consumers aged 20 and older. Because the method excludes cash payments, person-to-person bank transfers, gift certificates, prepaid cards, and business-to-business transactions, the totals are an approximation and differ from each company’s officially disclosed corporate revenue.
Even with those caveats, the data offers a useful read on consumer behavior, capturing the card-based spending that dominates retail in one of the world’s most cashless societies.
