A Visit to Daiso in Seoul - A Retail Giant Crushing the Competition

• I recently visited Daiso near Seoul Station. Daiso is one of the few off-line stores that has been crushing the competition in Korea in the past several years.

• Amid continued weak economy in Korea in the past several years, Daiso has thrived through its detailed execution of focus on low priced products with highest value to consumers.

• Able C&C (078520 KS) is a prime example a company capitalizing on the strong demand for cosmetic products at Daiso.

Photos of Daiso in Seoul Station (Photos by Douglas Kim)

I recently visited Daiso near Seoul Station. Daiso is one of the few off-line stores that has been crushing the competition in Korea in the past several years. Similar to how Coupang has emerged as the leader of online e-commerce in Korea, Daiso has become the leader of off-line retail store (especially in the low priced products, in the "value retail" segment).

However, because Daiso is private, you cannot invest directly in the company. It is estimated that the market valuation of Daiso could be more than 5 trillion won which would surpass the combined market caps of Emart (market cap of 2.4 trillion won) and Lotte Shopping Co (023530 KS) (market cap of 2.2 trillion won).

Amid continued weak economy in Korea in the past several years, Daiso has thrived through its detailed execution of focus on low priced products with highest value to consumers.

Daiso is a competitor to not just the offline retail stores such as Emart, Olive Young, and Lotte, but also to e-commerce platforms such as Coupang (CPNG US), 11st, and Gmarket, as well as CVS brands such as GS25 (GS Retail (007070 KS)) and CU BGF retail (282330 KS). It also competes against global brands such as Miniso Korea and IKEA Korea.

Daiso Company Background

Daiso Korea was established in 1992 under the name Asung Industrial Company by founder Park Jung-kwon. It later changed its name to Daiso Korea. The company is now well known for its affordability, extensive product variety, relatively high quality products given their low prices.

Its major products include household items, stationery, cosmetics, kitchenware, home decor, seasonal goods, electronic accessories, foods/snacks, and others. Most of the products are priced between 1,000 won (US$0.74) to 5,000 won (US$3.70).