Emart announced Tuesday that it will begin operating its third store in Khan-Uul District that has a population of 180,000 and an upscale neighborhood for high-income families. The three-story store with one underground floor is located 2.6 kilometers away from its first store and 5.2 kilometers from the second outlet. The total floor size reaches 13,550 square meters, which would make it the largest big-box store in Mongolia.

Emart, Korea’s largest big-box store operator under the country’s retail giant Shinsegae Group, is expanding its presence in Mongolia as part of efforts to offset poor sales in Korea as it struggles in competition with e-commerce players. The company swung to an operating loss of 29.9 billion won ($24.6 million) on a consolidated basis in April-June, its first quarterly loss since its inception in 1993.

But sales of Emart in Mongolia have been on a steady rise since the big-box store unit entered the country in 2016, expanding from 53 billion won in 2017 to 72 billion won in 2018.

The new store will sell around 35,000 products, 20 percent more than the first store that opened in July in 2016. About 30 percent is Korean goods of which 60 percent are products made by Korean small- and mid-sized firms.

The third outlet has a 70 percent bigger consumer electronics store compared to the first store, and hosts many global brands such as Samsung, Phillips and Dell to sell a variety of electronic goods such as gaming devices and audio equipment. It has a separated shopping section for Emart’s own brands such as No Brand, Sentence, Days and Loving Home that have been slowly gaining popularity in the country, as well as a designated corner only for Mongolian products to contribute to the local economy, according to the company.

The store also houses a food court with brands such as Burger King and Tous Les Jours, and inside playground to attract family customers. It has spacious parking lots, 65 percent bigger than the first store, to enhance convenience for customers who mostly drive to the store.

The three stores are run by Sky Trading, the local distribution unit of Mongolian retail giant Altai Group.