Seoul, South Korea – The number of franchise outlets in South Korea exceeded 300,000 for the first time last year, according to data released by the Statistics Korea on Thursday. The number of employees working at these franchise outlets also surpassed 1 million. However, the average revenue per franchise outlet increased by only 3.0%, falling short of the inflation rate.

The surge in the number of franchise outlets is attributed to the intense competition among franchisees. The data showed that while the overall revenue of the franchise industry increased by 8.4% to 108.8 trillion won, the average revenue per outlet reached only 360.92 million won.

Convenience stores accounted for the largest share of franchise outlets, making up 18.2% (55,000 outlets), followed by Korean food (16.6%), coffee and non-alcoholic beverages (10.7%), and chicken restaurants (9.9%). The number of outlets increased in most sectors, including foreign food, stationery, and Korean food, while the number of auto repair shops decreased.

In terms of average revenue per outlet, the beverage and other liquor sector saw the highest growth at 14.1%, followed by household laundry (11.7%) and hairdressing (9.9%). On the other hand, stationery stores (-16.7%), bakeries (-2.0%), and kimbap and other fast food (-0.8%) experienced a decline.

Pharmacies had the highest average revenue per outlet at 1.33 billion won, followed by auto repair shops (669 million won), convenience stores (508 million won), and bakeries (409 million won). The lowest average revenue per outlet was recorded in household laundry (98 million won), coffee and non-alcoholic beverages (208 million won), kimbap and other fast food (246 million won), beverage and other liquor (257 million won), and chicken restaurants (275 million won).

In terms of the number of employees, hairdressing salons had the highest number of employees per outlet at 4.7, followed by auto repair shops (4.6) and bakeries (4.4). The lowest number of employees per outlet was recorded in household laundry (1.4), stationery stores (2.0), and chicken restaurants (2.2). Gyeonggi-do had the highest number of franchise outlets with 80,000, followed by Seoul (50,000), Gyeongnam (20,000), and Busan (19,000).