(Yicai) June 11 -- Popular South Korean convenience store chain CU has entered the Chinese market, with its first online store already open and running. Preparations for physical stores are underway.

CU's offerings on Chinese e-commerce site Tmall Global mainly consist of South Korean specialty foods, with items priced between CNY8 and CNY60 (USD1.20 and USD8.90). However, the stock remains relatively limited.

CU is a convenience store brand under BGF Retail with about 18,600 stores in South Korea. Its outlets feature a high proportion of private-label products, which offer a competitive price advantage, and are equipped with self-service instant noodle machines.

Entering the Chinese market through online channels is part of an e-commerce-first strategy, CU said. Another foreign retailer that adopted this strategy when launching in China was German supermarket chain Aldi.

CU's entry into the Chinese market clearly indicates that it sees the growth potential in China's convenience store sector, an insider told Yicai. Due to relatively high risks associated with physical stores, CU has opted to initially explore the market through an online model, which will help it gauge Chinese consumers' purchasing power, preferred product categories, and price ranges before proceeding with the layout of physical stores, the insider added.

CU has advantages in areas such as private-label product development and supply chain management. But it may not export all of its products to the Chinese market, as there are high transportation costs to consider. If CU needs to turn to local sourcing in the Chinese market, then it would have to rebuild its entire supply chain, which cannot be accomplished in the short term, the insider pointed out.

Convenience store brands such as FamilyMart, Lawson, 7-Eleven, Bianlifeng, Quik, and Alldays have already established a strong presence in China, with some of them operating thousands of stores. Sinopec-backed Easy Joy, which is located at the Chinese petrochemical giant's gas stations, has more than 20,000 outlets.

The global convenience store industry expanded to USD982 billion last year, and it is expected to achieve a compound annual growth rate of 9.4 percent between 2026 and 2030, according to the 2026 China Convenience Store Development Report released by the China Chain Store and Franchise Association and Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler China.

Editor: Futura Costaglione