South Korea’s retail giants Shinsegae Group and CJ Group have agreed to cooperate on logistics and retail businesses to compete with domestic and overseas rivals. The two retail giants signed a memorandum of understanding Wednesday for their partnership centering on the Shinsegae Group e-commerce platform’s utilization of CJ Group’s nationwide logistics network. According to their announcement, CJ Logistics will be in charge of deliveries of goods sold on Shinsegae Group’s e-commerce unit Gmarket.
Shinsegae expects the partnership will offer a wider time frame for the placement of next-day shipping orders than Gmarket’s current delivery system. Gmarket currently uses its own Smile Delivery service, in which customers should place orders before 8 p.m.
for next-day shipping. But, when CJ Logistics handles Gmarket’s deliveries, customers will have four more hours to place their orders for next-day delivery, Shinsegae explained. CJ Logistics will also manage the overall distribution system of Shinsegae's online shopping platform SSG.
com, including its two logistics centers in Gimpo and Gwangju in Gyeonggi Province. The two groups added that they will discuss options to sell the logistics centers to CJ Logistics. By having CJ Group handle its logistics, SSG.
com will be able to save on delivery costs, Shinsegae Group expected. SSG.com will also be able to focus more on its grocery business, together with the group’s discount chain E-mart, to compete in the grocery del.