Major Hypermarkets Offer Discounts on Fresh Foods 3-4 Hours Before Closing

Major hypermarkets nationwide are selling fresh food at low prices starting 3 to 4 hours before closing. These are items left over from daily sales that would typically be discarded. This allows consumers to shop for groceries affordably while enabling the marts to reduce food waste, yielding both economic and environmental benefits.

Products sensitive to freshness are categorized for disposal if not sold on the same day, even if they are safe for consumption, which increases the cost burden on companies. To minimize losses from inventory disposal, major hypermarkets have designated agricultural, livestock, and fishery products, deli items like sushi and boxed meals, and products nearing their expiration dates as targets for discounts.

The timing and depth of discounts are determined flexibly based on each store's inventory status and business conditions. E-mart typically begins closing discounts at 7 PM, three hours before closing, increasing the discount rate to up to 40% as closing time approaches. Lotte Mart and Lotte Super usually start closing discounts at 6 PM but may move this up to 5 PM depending on commercial district characteristics or weather, adjusting discount rates according to the speed of inventory depletion.

Amid the continuation of high inflation, related sales are showing a growth trend. According to data compiled by Lotte Mart and Lotte Super, sales revenue from closing discount products from January to July this year increased by approximately 6% compared to the same period last year.

For efficient inventory management, E-mart has introduced a system that calculates optimal discount rates using AI trained on sales performance data. The system is currently in operation at 129 seafood outlets and 99 deli outlets. This system is effective in minimizing product disposal, and E-mart plans to expand its application to agricultural and livestock products and non-fresh sectors within the year.