SSM Stores Say They’re Unfairly Excluded From South Korea’s High Fuel Price Relief Vouchers

“In terms of being neighborhood shops where self-employed owners stake their livelihoods, we’re no different from regular supermarkets. It feels unfair that the vouchers can’t be used here.”
 
A franchise owner in his 50s who runs a corporate supermarket, known as an SSM, in Seoul said he was disappointed by news of the government’s high fuel price relief vouchers. Unlike convenience stores and other franchise outlets, SSMs were excluded from eligible places to spend the support, prompting calls to revisit the criteria because many SSM locations are individually operated franchises.
 
According to the retail industry on the 27th, the government began accepting first-round applications that day for high fuel price relief vouchers worth up to 600,000 won per person. The vouchers are designed for use at small businesses with annual sales of 3 billion won or less. Traditional markets and neighborhood marts, along with convenience stores, are anticipating a bump in sales. The four major convenience store chains — GS25, CU, Seven Eleven and Emart24 — launched broad discounts timed to the payout period, targeting everyday items such as ramen, instant rice, toilet paper and detergent.
 
SSMs, big-box retailers and small merchants selling through e-commerce platforms said they were left out again, as they were during last year’s distribution of consumer coupons for livelihood recovery. Of the 1,457 nationwide stores operated by the four SSM chains — GS The Fresh, Lotte Super, Homeplus Express and Emart Everyday — nearly half, or 721, are run as franchise outlets. GS The Fresh has 471 franchise stores, or 81% of its 581 locations. One SSM owner said, “The franchise bakery or convenience store across the street can take the vouchers, so why can’t we, when we pay franchise fees and run the same kind of business?”
 
Big-box retailers also expressed concern, saying spending is likely to shift toward convenience stores and neighborhood marts where the vouchers can be used. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said that in last year’s third quarter, when consumer coupons were issued, SSM sales fell 1.6% from a year earlier and big-box store sales dropped 10.2%.
 
Seo Yong-gu, a professor of business administration at Sookmyung Women’s University, said limiting vouchers to selected retail channels inevitably creates blind spots and raises fairness concerns. He said the government should restrict only places that clearly should be excluded, such as department stores and large online shopping malls, and allow the vouchers to be used across other everyday retail channels.