Shinsegae Group, the operator of South Korea's biggest discount store chain Emart, said Monday that it will integrate its online shopping mall operations into SSG.COM from next month to boost sales.

The retail conglomerate will launch SSG.COM, an integrated company of two online shopping stores -- the Shinsegae mall and the Emart mall -- on March 1, Shinsegae Group said in a statement. 

"The integration of online shopping operations is to effectively absorb a rapidly growing demand for e-commerce deals under the single brand of SSG.COM," a company spokesman said by phone.

Shinsegae aims to earn 3.1 trillion won (US$2.8 billion) in sales from the online shopping business in 2019, jumping 29 percent from 2.4 trillion won a year earlier, the statement said.

In the long term, the group is striving to achieve 10 trillion won in sales by 2023, helped by rising demand for delivery services, it said.

The group also operates Shinsegae, the country's second-biggest department store chain after the Lotte chain.

SSG.COM is fully controlled by Emart, a key affiliate of Shinsegae Group. (Yonhap)