[THE INVESTOR] E-mart announced Aug. 22 that it has signed an agreement with Metro China to supply its private label items worth US$15,000.

The largest discount seller in South Korea will introduce four items from its No Brand range, a no-frills lineup of its own, to be sold from September.

This is the first time E-mart is exporting the range to an overseas offline store, not at E-mart branches, and the retail giant expects to be the stepping stone to diversify the distribution channels. 
E-mart’s private label products are already a hit in Mongol and Vietnam, raising the hopes for the big box retailer. No Brand posted 600 million won ($533,000) sales in three weeks at its Ulaanbaatar branch that opened last month, accounting for about 7 percent of total sales. It contributed to 3 percent of sales at the Vietnamese outlet that opened in December.

First introduced in April 2015 with nine items, No Brand now has over 300 products that range from butter cookies to car window wipers, and posted 63.8 billion won turnover in the first half of this year.

Metro is a German retailer that dominates the global market as the third-largest franchise following Walmart and Carrefour. It operates over 2,200 outlets in 33 countries and has 88 in China.

By Hwang You-mee (glamazon@heraldcorp.com)