"What’s the Use of AX? NongHyup Mall Now an Employee-Only Platform, Fewer than 100,000 Monthly Users"

NongHyup Mall’s MAU Drops to 90,000 in March–April
42.7% of Sales Attributed to Employees Over Five Years

The number of users of "NongHyup Mall (NH Singsing Mall)," an online sales channel operated by NongHyup to expand online market access for farmers and fishermen, has been found to be less than 100,000 per month. More than 40% of its sales are generated from NongHyup employees, and a significant portion of sales come from non-agricultural and livestock products such as home appliances and jewelry, leading to criticism that it has effectively become a "welfare mall" for company staff.

According to Mobile Index, a data analytics solution from IGAWorks, the monthly active users (MAU) of NongHyup Mall (NH Singsing Mall) totaled 102,176 last month. This means that only around 100,000 users accessed the application at least once during the month. In March and April, the numbers fell further, to 97,938 and 95,969 respectively, falling below the 100,000 mark. After reaching nearly 140,000 in January 2024, the MAU for NongHyup Mall has continued to decline.

NongHyup Mall is introduced on App Store and Google Play as "the official online shopping mall operated by NongHyup." The app description states that it is "a specialty shopping mall where you can buy quality Korean agricultural products at reasonable prices." First launched in 2017, the app has now been operated for nine years by NongHyup Economic Holdings, and total membership reportedly exceeds 8 million.

The number of users of NongHyup Mall is much lower than competing platforms where agricultural and livestock products are sold. Coupang, a major retail platform, recorded an MAU of 35.95 million last month, while Kurly and Emart also posted MAUs during the same period of 4.78 million and 3.13 million, respectively.

Even when compared to Oasis Market and Hansalim, which primarily handle organic and eco-friendly ingredients, NongHyup Mall falls short. Oasis Market’s MAU reached 400,000 last month. The MAU for Hansalim Jangbogi, the Hansalim-operated app, reached 103,920 in August, surpassing NongHyup Mall’s MAU for the first time since January 2024. Hansalim Jangbogi is a retail channel exclusive to Hansalim cooperative members who have paid membership fees, among other requirements.

Not only is user performance poor, but the high proportion of internal purchases among NongHyup Mall’s total sales is also seen as problematic.

According to data submitted by NongHyup to the National Assembly’s Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans & Fisheries Committee, obtained by Assemblyman Kang Seungkyu of the People Power Party, sales to internal staff accounted for 42.7% (KRW 202.696 billion) of the total NongHyup Mall sales of KRW 475.08 billion from 2021 through June this year. An analysis of last year’s sales data showed that employees’ purchases of agricultural and livestock products accounted for just 28% of their total, far lower than the 72% share among general customers.

Among non-agricultural and livestock products sold on NongHyup Mall, home appliances have consistently ranked as the top-selling item from 2021 through June this year. Jewelry has also been among the top five non-agricultural product categories for five consecutive years. Between 2021 and June 2024, NongHyup Mall generated KRW 43.5 billion in sales of home appliances and KRW 18 billion in jewelry. Other top non-agricultural product categories sold through the mall included red ginseng, beverages, and kimchi.

Criticism has also emerged regarding weak core business performance, given the high proportion of employee purchases of non-agricultural items. NongHyup Mall’s market share among all online agricultural, livestock, and fisheries product transactions in Korea remained at just 0.5% last year. The figure has been gradually falling, declining from 1.1% in 2021. Although online transactions of agricultural, livestock, and fisheries products are increasing overall, NongHyup Mall sales have failed to grow.

Assemblyman Kang commented, “There is an urgent need for comprehensive reform and special countermeasures to transition from an insular employees-only mall to a truly public channel that can drive expanded national sales of agricultural and marine products.”

Meanwhile, last month, NongHyup Economic Holdings announced it signed a business agreement with KT and Microsoft Korea to collaborate on AI·cloud-based Distribution AX innovation. The agreement, prompted by KT’s recent work converting NongHyup Mall to a public cloud, aims to establish personalized recommendation and marketing systems using customer, product, and order data across distribution, food, and other key business areas managed by NongHyup Economic Holdings. They also plan to introduce agentic AI services capable of independently processing customer inquiries, order confirmations, and delivery notifications to enhance customer convenience.

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