Purchasing Managers from Sam’s Clubs in China Study Korea’s Retail Market

As part of USMEF's training program for Sam's Club, a team of purchasing managers traveled to Korea to study merchandising, packaging for U.S. red meat.

USMEF is working closely with Sam's Club to help the retailer grow its profitability with U.S. red meat. Already the largest retailer in China for chilled U.S. beef with 48 outlets, Sam's Club plans to open six or seven new outlets per year.

"We conduct training programs for Sam's Club personnel that focus on the handling, packaging, merchandising and promotion of chilled and frozen U.S. product," says China Director Polly Zhao. "Seeing is understanding, so we brought purchasing managers from Sam's Club outlets in China to Korea. This allowed them to see new applications and the innovative ways that Korean retailers are marketing and selling U.S. beef and pork."

USMEF's Polly Zhao (left) and Jihae Yang (second from left) led the team to Homeplus and other retailers in Seoul to review U.S. red meat products and merchandising.

The Sam's Club team visited the USMEF booth at the Seoul Food trade show to meet U.S. suppliers and Korean importers, and review merchandising ideas for U.S. red meat.

USMEF kicked off the team's two-day visit with a market briefing in USMEF's Korea office. Vice President of Asia Pacific Jihae Yang, Korea Director Junil Park and Senior Marketing Manager Alex Choi explained the distribution and retail structure of the Korean market. They also pointed out similarities with the Chinese market, as well as highlighting key differences. The USMEF team also discussed innovations in the home meal replacement (HMR) category and how U.S. pork and beef are utilized in these products.

USMEF then escorted the team on a tour of four retail outlets to demonstrate packaging and merchandising techniques for U.S. beef and pork and their inclusion in HMR products. At each retail outlet, Yang led discussions with department managers about product development, trends in HMR products and promotional tools for U.S. beef and pork.

USMEF also took the team to Seoul Food, one of Asia's largest food trade shows. At USMEF's booth, Yang introduced additional merchandising ideas for beef, pork and HMR products. USMEF also led the team to an exhibition hall at the show to explore packaging and processing machinery for HMR products.

"The team was very interested in the chilled beef supply chain and shelf-life management in Korea," said Zhao. "The team agreed that packaging in Korea is more advanced than in China and asked many questions about packaging materials and processes."

Funding support was provided by the Beef Checkoff Program and the National Pork Board.