Card Payments at Four Major Convenience Store Chains Surpass 3.6 Trillion Won in August, Setting All-Time Record

GS25 and CU Account for About 74% of Total Market Share

Last month, the total card payments at Korea’s four major convenience store chains surpassed 3.6 trillion won, reaching an all-time high.

According to WiseApp·Retail on September 8, the estimated amount of credit and debit card payments at GS25, CU, 7-Eleven, and Emart24 in August 2026 was 3.6585 trillion won in total. This represents an increase of 3% compared to the previous record set in August 2024 (3.5522 trillion won), and an 11% growth from August 2023.

By brand, GS25 recorded the highest transaction amount. Setting GS25’s payment amount as 100, CU was 96.1, 7-Eleven was 47.1, and Emart24 was 22.0. Based on these figures, GS25 and CU together accounted for approximately 74% of the total transaction amount among the four companies. While the transaction volumes of GS25 and CU were similar, there was a significant gap between those two and both 7-Eleven and Emart24.

The number of unique customers who made payments at the four major convenience store chains last month was 39.02 million, excluding duplicates. On average, each person visited a convenience store 15.2 times per month, spending a total of 93,834 won. The average spending per payment was 6,165 won. By gender, male customers accounted for 71.1% of the total transaction amount, while female customers accounted for 28.9%. Men's transaction amount was about 2.5 times that of women.

This survey was conducted by WiseApp·Retail based on the transaction details recorded by consumers, estimating domestic credit and debit card payments. Cash, wire transfers, gift certificates, and payments through partner companies were not included, meaning there is a gap between these findings and each company’s actual sales.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.