GS Retail builds private label and delivery to win younger shoppers

App data from sweet potato deliveries is now driving year-round product launches and customer acquisition in South Korea.

For South Korean convenience retailer GS Retail, cracking the younger shopper comes down to a question most retailers are not yet asking: is this product worth sharing with friends?

"If it's something cool to have around my friends, is it something that I would love to share around with my friends?" That calculus, according to Sourcing Manager Young Jae Choi during the Thailand Food Exhibition 2026, now sits alongside price and quality as a purchase driver.

GS Retail has responded with IP collaborations and entertainment tie-ins designed to give products a social life that extends well past the point of sale.

The more telling signal came from its delivery app. Baked sweet potato, which is a winter staple in South Korea, started turning up in year-round orders, purchased as a diet-friendly light meal rather than a cold-weather snack.

GS Retail quietly made it a permanent 24/7 listing. "We've seen a lot of customer acquisitions without doing too much work," Choi said. "The customers kind of just drop by, and then they order themselves." The episode exposed something the physical store could not: what shoppers actually want when no one is watching.

Private labels tell a similar story. GS Retail's Real Price brand has sidestepped the discount stigma that dogs most retailer own-brands by anchoring on quality first and price second. "People don't really visualize it as a cheap brand. It's more on the quality made from GS, and at an affordable price," Choi said. Repeat purchases have held even as consumers pull back on discretionary spending.

Taken together, the picture is of a retailer reading behaviour rather than chasing it, then adjusting before the trend fully arrives.