Homeplus
Private | |
Industry | Retailing |
Founded | 1999[1] |
Founder | Clément Depierre |
Headquarters | Seoul, South Korea |
Number of locations | hypermarket : 120, Homeplus Express : 250 |
Products | Groceries, consumer goods, |
Owner |
|
Website |
www |
Korean name | |
Hangul | 홈플러스 |
---|---|
Revised Romanization | Hom-peul-leo-seu |
McCune–Reischauer | Hom-pul-le-su |
Homeplus (Hangul: 홈플러스) is a Korean discount store retail chain with 113 branches throughout South Korea.<ref name=""Branches">"홈플러스 (Hom-peul-leo-seu)". Homeplus. Retrieved February 18, 2008.</ref> Homeplus is the second largest retailer in South Korea, behind Shinsegae Group's e-mart chain. It was owned by British supermarket conglomerate Tesco until 2015.[2]
Services
Homeplus operates both hypermarkets and its express format as well as a home delivery shopping service. Stores typically open at 10 AM and close at 12 PM.
Homeplus hypermarket stores typically offer general home products, clothing, electronics, and sporting goods. They also usually feature a multi-story car park, large supermarkets, and small, special-purpose stores such as fast food restaurants, travel agencies, appliance-rental firms, pharmacies, and bookstores. There are also "culture centres" in some of the stores.
In 2011, the retailer opened the world’s first virtual supermarket at Seolleung Station on Seoul Subway Line 2, where smartphone users can photograph the bar code of the life-size pictures, on the walls and platform screen doors, of 500 items of food, toiletries, electronics etc., for delivery within the same day.[3][4]
In August 2014 the company cut their profit by $0.4 billion.[5] On September 23, 2014 Homeplus was investigated for alleged data breach.[6] From September 5–10 of the same year, one of the company's outlets was on a strike during Chuseok holiday protesting not substantial wage increase.[7]
In September 2015 the company was sold to MBK Partners, a South Korean buyout firm, which partnered with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Singapore's Temasek Holdings in a transaction worth £4.2 billion.[2][8]
See also
References
- ↑ The strategic localization of transnational retailers: the case of Samsung-Tesco in South Korea. January 2005.
- 1 2 "Tesco sells South Korea stores for £4bn". BBC News. September 7, 2015. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
- ↑ Murthy, Rishika (September 22, 2011). "Seoul's 6 coolest subway stops". CNN Travel. Archived from the original on August 10, 2014. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
- ↑ Strother, Jason (October 21, 2011). "Shopping by phone at South Korea's virtual grocery". BBC News. Archived from the original on August 29, 2014. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
- ↑ Lianna Brinded (September 23, 2014). "Tesco's Homeplus Investigated By South Korea Over Privacy Breach and Competition Rigging". International Business Times. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
- ↑ "Tesco's South Korea brand Homeplus under investigation". BBC News. September 23, 2014. Archived from the original on September 24, 2014. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
- ↑ "Home plus union to strike during Chuseok". Korea Times. September 4, 2014. Archived from the original on September 26, 2014. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
- ↑ "Tesco starts sell-off ahead of results with Asian disposal". BBC News. 12 April 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2016.