There are one or even several convenient stores at every corner in Seoul, which explains how South Korea has come to beat Japan - the traditional convenient store powerhouse - in the population of stores against human head counts.

According to the retail industry on Tuesday, South Korea was home to 34,376 convenience stores under six franchisers as of the end of last year, which is one for every 1,491 people as the Korean population was at 51.25 million.

The proportion is 1.5 times more than neighboring Japan that had 56,160 stores as of the end of March in a population 125 million, which would represent a store for every 2,226 Japanese people.

CU brand had the biggest presence with 11,949 outlets, followed by GS25 with 11,911 stores and Seven Eleven with 8,944, Ministop with 2,401 and E-mart 24 with 2,247.

Revenue and outlet size, however, was just a third of Japanese counterparts.

By Park Eun-jin

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]