Daiso chairman Park Jung-bu wins master category at EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards

Aseong Daiso announced Wednesday that Chairman Park Jung-bu received the master category award at the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards, hosted by EY Hanyoung, the Korean affiliate of the global accounting and consulting firm EY.

The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards is a globally recognized business award that originated in the United States in 1986 and has been held in South Korea since 2007. The master category honors entrepreneurs who have made outstanding contributions to industry development and generated lasting influence through exceptional management performance and entrepreneurial spirit.

Since introducing Daiso as a fixed-price lifestyle goods store in 1997, Park has built Aseong Daiso over nearly three decades on a consistent management principle of fixed-price retail. The company has established a distinctive retail model that offers products combining quality and practicality at reasonable prices.

Daiso maintains a six-tier pricing structure ranging from 500 won to 5,000 won. Even amid rising costs and shifting consumer conditions, the company has focused on securing price competitiveness through greater efficiency in product planning, sourcing and distribution rather than raising prices. It has also expanded its product lineup from everyday household goods into beauty, fashion and health supplements, contributing to the spread of value-conscious consumer culture during a period of high inflation.

The company has also made steady investment in logistics infrastructure. To meet growing demand from its expanding operations and integrated online-offline fulfillment needs, it invested about 400 billion won ($298 million) in building the Sejong Hub Center. In October, it broke ground on the Yangju Hub Center at a total cost of 600 billion won. Both centers are expected to boost product-handling capacity and supply stability through large-scale automated facilities, and are projected to create around 2,000 jobs, contributing to regional economic development.

Meanwhile, Aseong Daiso recorded sales of about 3.46 trillion won in 2023, then reached about 4.53 trillion won last year. Expectations are growing that the company will hit 5 trillion won this year.

"We will continue to do our best to offer customers quality products at reasonable prices," Park said. "Through logistics infrastructure investment such as the Sejong and Yangju hub centers, we will strengthen our stable product supply system, grow alongside local communities and partner companies, and strive to become a 'national store' trusted by our customers."