A ‘safe zone’ convenience store (Image courtesy of CU)
SEOUL, Jul. 4 (Korea Bizwire) – A recent survey by the Korea Consumer Agency has found that while South Korean consumers highly appreciate the store environment and payment convenience of their local convenience stores, they are less satisfied with customer communication and promotional events.
The agency released its findings on July 3, detailing consumer satisfaction and usage patterns across the country’s four major convenience store franchises: GS25, CU, 7-Eleven, and emart24. The online survey, conducted in April, polled 1,600 consumers nationwide who had visited these stores within the past six months.
Overall satisfaction with convenience stores scored 3.76 out of 5 points, an increase of 0.22 points from a similar survey conducted three years ago. The “product satisfaction” category, which includes quality of products and services, hygiene, pricing, store accessibility, and payment convenience, saw the most significant improvement, rising from 3.67 to 4.01 points.
However, “service quality” (including store environment, customer service, and staff expertise) and “service experience” (evaluating consumers’ emotional response to their store visits) showed more modest gains, increasing from 3.68 to 3.73 points and 3.50 to 3.55 points, respectively.
In the service quality category, “store environment” scored high at 3.89 points, while “customer empathy,” which includes communication efforts and meeting customer needs, scored lower at 3.62 points. For product satisfaction, “payment convenience” received high marks (4.36 points), but “promotions and events” scored relatively low (3.63 points).
Among the franchises, GS25 ranked highest in overall satisfaction with 3.89 points, followed by CU (3.79), emart24 (3.75), and 7-Eleven (3.61).
The survey also revealed that consumers’ average spending per visit increased by 22.6% to 10,710 won, up from 8,734 won three years ago. The most frequently purchased items were beverages (31.1%), ready-to-eat meals (26.6%), and snacks, ice cream, and bakery items (13.4%).
Usage of additional services such as parcel delivery, ATMs, and transportation card recharging also increased, with 62.1% of respondents reporting using these services, up 20.5 percentage points from the previous survey.
Of the respondents, 8.8% (141 people) reported experiencing dissatisfaction or issues during their visits. The most common complaints were insufficient stock of desired items (52.5%), followed by staff unfriendliness (37.6%) and payment errors (24.1%).
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
