E-Mart eyes sales of 60 tln won in 2020

SEOUL (Yonhap) - E-Mart Co., South Korea's largest discount chain, said Thursday that it is targeting 60 trillion won (US$55.6 billion) in sales and 3.7 trillion won in operating profit in 2020.
To that end, E-Mart, a wholly owned unit of No. 2 retailer Shinsegae Co., will focus on the expansion of its warehouse club chain, E-Mart Traders, and its online shopping mall, E-Mart Mall, the company said in a statement.
E-Mart plans to increase the number of E-Mart Traders stores to five from three. E-Mart opened the first store of E-Mart Traders in Yongin, 49 kilometers south of Seoul, in November 2010.
E-Mart also plans to raise sales of E-Mart Mall to 1 trillion won in 2013, breaching the break-even point, and for the mall's sales to represent 15 percent of its overall revenue in 2020.
The discount store operator will open its new E-Mart Traders stores in Anseong, 77 km south of Seoul, in 2014 and in Daejeon, 164 km south of Seoul, in 2015.
Together with the plan to expand its domestic presence, E-Mart will aggressively enter the retail markets in China and Vietnam, it said.
E-Mart has a plan to open its stores in the western and northern parts of China, while it is aiming to open its first store in Hanoi in 2012.
The company said it will reduce the ratio of local store sales to its overall revenue to 50 percent in 2020 from the current 88 percent via its new businesses, including the expansion of its overseas presence and its online mall.
E-Mart is targeting 12.4 trillion won in sales and 830 billion won in operating profit this year.
E-Mart was spun off from Shinsegae in May. Shinsegae has four affiliates under its wing, while E-Mart owns another 10 units, including Starbucks Coffee Korea Co.
E-Mart will be listed on the main stock market on Friday.