THE HUH FAMILY CONTROLS THE GS GROUP WHICH IS ONE OF THE TOP 10 CHAEBOLS IN SOUTH KOREA

He is absolutely certain that there is no free lunch in this world. You have to be on the grind to survive. Datuk Seri Dr Chai Kee Kan (KK Chai) made it past the RM1 billion revenue in 2021 with his diverse portfolio of businesses, the signature of which is the KK Mart convenience store chain. He has more than 579 outlets now and is still expanding. It was the pandemic that pushed revenues past the billion Ringgit mark as lockdowns and restricted movements led to consumers heading for the neighbourhood stores for essentials to avoid crowds and queues at bigger supermarkets. 

in 2007 Datuk KK Chai ventured into KK Home Deco, KK Kopitiam, and KK Food Court. He wanted to give his regular KK Mart customers more diverse offerings than the basic essentials at his string of convenience stores which are more like discount stores because of the pricing. After buying the groceries, what next would his customers want he thought. So he added KK Fresh Mart, KK Hotel, KK Motorsports, SKCC Beauty International, SKCC Laboratories and more under his KK Group. 

With millions of customers frequenting his outlets, Datuk KK Chai knew he must leverage on the customer data he has. "We must know our customers better, understand their needs and wants so that we can tailor our offerings for them and reward them with loyalty points so they will return to our stores," he said. The "KK For You" App was born and KK App has been driving sales numbers up. 

S. Korean Convenience Store GS25 Franchise 

Datuk Seri KK Chai has signed up with S. Korea's retail Group GS Retail which operates 15,000 GS25 convenience stores in the country to bring in the GS25 chain to Malaysia. Deal was signed on 9 July 2022. GS25 will receive royalty payments for licensing the brand to KK Group, which will be in charge of local operations. According to the Korea Herald, Malaysia is the third overseas market for GS25 to enter, after it launched stores in Vietnam in 2018 and Mongolia in 2021.

The Huh (also spelled "Hur") family controls the GS Group which is one of the top 10 chaebols or family controlled conglomerates in S. Korea. The 4th generation are now in key positions of the GS chaebol. 

President of KLCAH

Active and dynamic yet with both feet firmly planted on the ground,  Datuk KK Chai was re-elected for a third term (2021 - 2024) as President of the Kuala Lumpur Chinese Assembly Hall (KLCAH). He was President for (2015 - 2018) and (2018 - 2021). A grassroots man, he has the heart of the Chinese community at large and overall the heart of the nation. 

REFERENCES

1. KK Group of Companies. Our Journey. https://kkgroup.my/our-journey
2. SSmeinfo search on KK Supermart & Superstore Sdn Bhd showed revenue rise to RM1.08 billion for FYE June 2020.
3. The Sun Daily. 28 July 2020. https://www.thesundaily.my/media-marketing/continuous-store-expansion-LH3191386
4. Korea JoongAng Daily. 11 July 2022. https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/07/11/business/industry/korea-gs25-conveniencestore/20220711153940429.html
5. The Korea Herald. 11 July 2022. Byun Hye-jin. S. Korean convenience stores make forays into Malaysia.
6. https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20220711000668
7. Pulse by Maeli Business News Korea. 27 November 2018. https://pulsenews.co.kr/view.php?year=2018&no=742121