Daiso is rapidly emerging as an emerging powerhouse in the domestic e-commerce (e-commerce) market. Analysts say that consumers are flocking to Daiso Mall, which sells relatively cheap products, as consumers' wallets have become thinner in the era of recession and high prices.
In particular, it is notable that Daiso, which has been called an offline powerhouse, is rapidly expanding its influence online. It is an achievement made amid the offensive of C-commerce such as Ali and Temu.
Daiso, which started with an unconventional price policy called the 'thousand won shop', was called an icon of the common people's economy. Now, it has grown into a household goods powerhouse with thousands of stores nationwide and trillions of won in annual sales.
If the distribution format, which originated in Japan in the past, was reinterpreted to suit Korean sentiment and consumption patterns, a separate model called "Korean Daiso" is now settling down and dominating the domestic market.
In this week's The Tech Wave, we will learn about Daiso's online advance and success, which has emerged as a "catfish" in the e-commerce market.
According to a sample survey of Korean smartphone users (Android+iOS) conducted by the app and retail analysis service "Wise App, Retail, Goods" this month, the monthly active users (MAU) of Daisomol app reached 4.24 million in July 2025, a new all-time high.
This is a 57% increase from 2.7 million a year earlier.
Daisomol, which had 1.12 million MAUs in July 2023, succeeded in significantly increasing its user count in just a few years. It ranks first overwhelmingly among household goods apps. In particular, steep growth is unusual.
Daiso Mall is also slowly approaching the MAU of major e-commerce shopping apps.
Last month, AliExpress' MAU stood at 9.19 million and Temu at 7.52 million. Among the online shopping categories, Coupang (about 33 million people) ranks first.
The key to Daiso Mall's success is lowering the barrier to entry into the shopping cart.
Based on Daiso's strength of open-line (store) accessibility, it is a strategy to meet "immediate" expectations by adding convenient services such as order-store receipt (pick-up) and next-day and same-day delivery.
First of all, Daiso improved user convenience by integrating the open market (Daiso Mall) and its own mall (Shop Daiso), which only handles Daiso products, into one at the end of 2023. It was the beginning of full-scale targeting of the online market.
The route of product search, payment, and receipt was simplified, increasing repeatability.
Around this time, Daiso also started its "next day delivery" service. It has lowered the psychological barrier of delivery.
If you order the products sold at Daiso Mall before 2 p.m. on weekdays, they will be delivered by the next day. It was also effective to strengthen the pickup service, which allows you to take only goods immediately after ordering.
Although it is mainly focused on ultra-low-priced products, free next-day delivery is provided for purchases of 30,000 won or more, and since last month, same-day delivery has been implemented for purchases of 40,000 won or more in some regions, lowering psychological barriers and gaining word of mouth among users.
Daiso has also expanded its holiday delivery service areas nationwide (except for some regions) since April. It is interpreted that this is because it has confirmed online demand for health functional foods (dry foods) and beauty and fashion products that are difficult to obtain in offline stores.
"Good enough low price" is preferred in the shopping cart for daily necessities and consumables, and the acceleration of online channel conversion is also considered a factor in Daiso's growth.
Daiso is evaluated as proving the success of the 'ultra-low price strategy under 5,000 won'.This is because the strategy of increasing the demand for impulse purchases and revisiting with small-capacity and cost-effective products was effective.
There is also an analysis that Daiso's sales and app use rose together as the preference for the "low price and essential goods" category was strengthened in the face of inflation.
Daiso recorded 3.968 trillion won in sales and 371.1 billion won in operating profit last year, breaking all-time highs. Sales jumped 14.7% and operating profit jumped 41.8% in the year. It was encouraging that the operating profit ratio was around 9% despite the trend of selling.
Some say that the price range of 5,000 won has become the baseline for consumers' purchases due to Daiso.
Securing differentiated product competitiveness while maintaining a uniform price policy is also a key factor in success.
Daiso has applied reverse price design since its inception and has maintained a uniform price policy for 28 years. Since two years ago, we have been rapidly expanding the beauty and dry food sectors by applying reverse price design to cosmetics and health functional foods.
Daiso is leading the trend of spreading "price reverse design" due to high prices and prolonged economic downturns. Price paradox means that consumers set the price they can afford first and then reverse the cost, distribution, and package costs.
Daiso is expanding its product area into the beauty and fashion categories, solidly increasing its user base.
Daiso strategically collaborated with beauty brands and took a strategy to significantly increase the types of products.
First of all, we have strengthened the beauty category by entering LG Household & Health Care and AmorePacific products, and in addition, we have introduced famous overseas brands. More and more companies are releasing "second brands" exclusively for Daiso.
The number of brands and products entered increased from 26 to 250 in 2023 to about 500 from 60 brands last year.
The effect was clear. Daiso's beauty sales were up 144% year-over-year last year, according to Daiso. Daiso's beauty sales growth rate is 52% in 2021 and 50% in 2022, followed by a steep rise to 85% in 2023.
When "killer products" were created, a group of users continued to open their wallets with high probability.
According to WiseApp, Retail, and Goods, the main user age group is in their 20s to 40s.
Specifically, when looking at the ratio by age group, 10.3% (440,000 people) under the age of 20, 29.0% (123,000 people) in their 20s, 24.3% (1.03 million people) in their 30s, 23.3% (990,000 people) in their 40s, 11.9% (500,000 people) in their 50s, and 1.2% (50,000 people) over the age of 60.
There is also an analysis that the experience of exploration centered on reviews, utilization tips, and short-forms has simultaneously raised the stay and transition of Daiso apps.
Among teenagers, it has spread like a trend to purchase SNS trendy items such as cosmetics and photo card decorative items introduced by beauty YouTubers at Daiso. Goods that have gone viral on social media are called "out-of-stock items" because they are quickly out of stock. It also serves as a device to attract customers to online malls.
Last month, the percentage of gender users in the Daisomol app was 75.8% (3.21 million) for women and 24.2% (1.03 million) for men.
According to the industry, Daiso comes in about 600 new products every month, on average, about 20 new products per day. It increases the rate of revisiting by supplying 'new today' products every day.
Behind Daiso's online territorial expansion was a large logistical investment. It has strengthened logistics, which is the core of e-commerce, first and laid a solid foundation. This is why Daiso was able to ship 30,000 Daiso products nationwide in one day.
At the end of 2012, Daiso invested 150 billion won, or 20% of its annual sales, to build a large distribution center with a total floor area of more than 100,000 square meters in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.
Since then, we have invested 250 billion won to open a new distribution center in Busan that is much larger than before.
Daiso is planning to build a large-scale automated distribution center in Sejong with the goal of completion in January 2027.
This is evaluated as a factor that will increase online competitiveness in the mid to long term. This is because it can expand the range of online throughput and promised delivery and improve the logistics efficiency of orders with low unit prices.
Daiso is implementing a store opening strategy focusing on direct management compared to other distribution stores. It is a strategy that prioritizes quality maintenance and operational uniformity by operating stores such as product display and inventory management, focusing on direct management.
The image of Daiso is also changing. This is because there was a perception that the quality was good by selling various items cheaply. For example, there is a Daiso perfume craze centered on the younger generation.
Daiso Offline, which invigorates the commercial district, is considered a representative rental store welcomed by nearby merchants and building owners. The term 'Dasegwon' was created by comparing Daiso business district to station district.
There are also potential challenges. Amid the ecosystem lock-in of Coupang and Naver, maintaining the differentiation of speed, user experience, and products amid Ali and Temu's price offensive is a key challenge for Daiso's growth in the future.
Can Daiso Mall become a 'trend' beyond the 'popular' of the e-commerce market.