E-Mart opens self-service gas station

E-Mart opens self-service gas station December 23, 2008

A customer, left, pumps his own fuel yesterday at E-Mart’s self-service gas station in Guseong-dong, Gyeonggi Province, as an employee looks on. [JoongAng Ilbo] Park Jeong-suk, 43, a resident of Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, started her day early yesterday by driving to an E-Mart branch near her home. Greeting Park was the newly opened self-service E-Mart gas station. After waiting with 10 other cars for around 30 minutes, she became the station’s first customer. “The price here is about 100 won ($0.08) less per liter than other gas stations around here. Waiting is no trouble with prices like these,” said Park. It took under three minutes for Park to swipe her credit card to pay - there are no cashiers - and fill her car with gasoline. “I work in sales so I spend around 300,000 won to 400,000 won per month on gas. I am so glad that an inexpensive gas station like this opened near my home,” she said. Shinsegae-owned E-Mart became the first local retailer to open its own self-service gas station after the government pushed for lower fuel prices by improving retail efficiency. The company said that even with a small margin, it will retain inexpensive prices. E-Mart’s gas stations, beginning with its Guseong-dong branch in Yongin, will sell gas for 80 won to 120 won less per liter below the national average by eliminating extra services and complimentary gifts like tissues or water. This means if a customer fills up with around 50,000 won worth of gasoline (around 42 liters), the price at E-Mart’s gas stations will be about 4,000 to 5,000 won cheaper than its full-service counterparts. “A self-service gas station next to a discount store will be very convenient for customers in addition to the merit of the cheaper cost,” said Lee Kyung-sang, head of E-Mart. Lee added, however, that it would be difficult to say that this discounter/gas station system will have any effect on stabilizing overall consumer prices because there are only 20 or so E-Mart branches that have enough nearby land to build gas stations. However, as with Park, the public response appears to be enthusiastic. As of 3 p.m. yesterday at the Guseong-dong branch, 170 drivers got out to fill up their own cars. Around 5,800 liters of gasoline in total were sold. “Because I’ve been so burned by this year’s crazy gasoline prices, even a 10 or 20 won difference is good news,” said Im Du-yeon, 54, who filled up with 61,000 won worth of gas.

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