“At This Price, I’ll Buy It” — Why GS25’s ‘Closing-Time Discount’ Is Booming
Creatrip Team
3 months ago
Rising living costs in South Korea are driving more shoppers to GS25’s app features that save money. GS25 reports that its ‘pickup’ service — which lets customers reserve items on the “Our Neighborhood GS” (우리동네GS) app and collect them in-store to avoid delivery fees — rose 36.3% year-on-year. The app’s ‘closing-time discount’ (마감 할인), which sells near‑expiry ready-meals like dosirak (lunchboxes) and kimbap at about 30–40% off, grew 33.4% as price-sensitive customers, especially younger people, seek “ultra cost-effective” food. Search activity on the app also increased, with popular keywords reflecting trending items. GS25 says these features are part of an O4O (online-for-offline) strategy to bring online shoppers into stores; the app’s monthly active users reached a record 4.31 million last month. The retailer plans to further expand pickup, closing-time discounts, and pre-order options for in-demand products.
