Offline Retail Industry Cuts 4,000 Jobs Last Year

The offline retail industry is accelerating a harsh overhaul centered on store and workforce efficiency. As expansion-driven strategies have reached their limits amid the growth of e-commerce and weaker consumer spending, more than 4,027 jobs were cut last year alone across the three major offline channels: hypermarkets, department stores, and convenience stores. In fact, strong efficiency measures for both staff and stores are already helping improve performance across the three channels this year.
According to electronic disclosure data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on the 20th, the number of employees at major hypermarket, department store, and convenience store operators fell by a total of 4,027 at the end of 2025 compared with the end of 2024.
E-Mart cut 1,473 jobs, from 24,548 employees at the end of 2024 to 23,075 at the end of last year. Lotte Mart reduced its workforce by 335, from 10,127 to 9,792, while Homeplus cut 1,400 jobs, from 19,900 to 18,500. Department store and convenience store operators are also reducing headcount to improve their cost structures. Over the same period, Lotte Department Store cut 106 jobs, from 4,271 to 4,165. Shinsegae Department Store and Hyundai Department Store reduced employment by 54 and 39, respectively. GS Retail cut 154 jobs, from 7,458 to 7,304, while BGF Retail reduced its workforce by 249, from 3,379 to 3,130. KOREA SEVEN, which operates 7-Eleven, cut 155 jobs, from 1,720 to 1,565, and emart24 also reduced its workforce, from 1,033 to 971.
Store numbers are also declining. Last year, the number of convenience stores operated by the country's four major chains fell by 1,586 from a year earlier to 53,266. This marks the first annual decline since the industry was introduced in 1988. The number of stores operated by the three major hypermarket chains, including E-Mart, Lotte Mart, and Homeplus, also fell by seven to 362 from 369 a year earlier, underscoring a clear shift across the offline retail industry toward efficiency rather than expansion.
Industry watchers say this strategy of streamlining stores and staff has been one of the factors behind the recent improvement in earnings. They note that the sector has been restructuring to reduce costs while strengthening the competitiveness of core stores. In fact, major retailers including E-Mart, Lotte Shopping, and Shinsegae posted first-quarter results this year that beat market expectations.
clean@fnnews.com Lee Jeong-hwa Reporter