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The reason why large-sized marts that have been doing so well are accelerating their restructuring even when they sold their stores, because their earnings deteriorated due to the rapid growth of the online market. In the second quarter of this year, major hypermarkets recorded tens of billions of deficits. For example, it is interpreted that the Lotte Group suddenly changed the CEO yesterday (on the 13th) and held responsibility for the worsening of performance. However, the problem is that reducing the size of hypermarkets can lead to mass unemployment.

This is Lee Seong-hoon.

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A large supermarket in Gyeonggi-do.

There are banners that read'farewell disposition' all over the place.

It has been in business for over 20 years, but it was closed.

Although the headquarters will deploy its employees to nearby stores, there is a backlash that it is not realistic.

[Kim Young-ju / Chairman of Lotte Mart Branch of Mart's Union: Because it takes 7 hours to commute to work, or because it is an environment where our workers cannot go to work with a minimum wage... .] The

reason for the closing of the store even though the opposition is not easy due to the fear of mass unemployment is due to business deterioration.

The amount of online shopping transactions from 25 trillion won in 2010 to 135 trillion won last year has grown more than five times over the past 10 years, but the offline distribution industry's performance has not improved until Corona 19.

Lotte announced a plan to close 30% of its stores within five years, and the industry started to shrink.

Hypermarkets are appealing to ease regulations such as mandatory closure.

It is argued that the'large mart vs. traditional market' structure should reflect the reality of'online vs. offline'.

[Seo Yong-gu/Professor, Sookmyung Women's University Business Administration Department: The distribution market environment has changed so much over the past 10 years. It is a result of misinterpretation of the market that only the off-line is regulated.] The

mart industry union estimates that 100,000 out of 500,000 will lose their jobs in 2-3 years if the restructuring continues.

(Video coverage: first job, video editing: Lee Seung-hee, VJ: Jung Min-gu) 

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