SOUTH KOREA: LOTTE DUTY FREE
Kurly, one of the most popular online supermarkets. Others included Today’s House,
the interior design sharing platform; W Concept, the rising online fashion retailer; and Baedal Minjok, South Korea’s leading food delivery app. “Our main strategy for the
LDF Online Store in 2019 was exclusiveness,” explains
the
spokesperson. Lotte launched its TripTalk
contents sharing SNS platform in September to further lift LDF Online Store’s travel market links. TripTalk allows travellers to share
Chinese customers accounted for 40% of all visitors in Lotte’s three Seoul downtown shops, while Japanese visitors represented 35% of all customers
“Lotte’s ties with industry-leading partners in other non-travel sectors have succeeded in creating high levels of consumer interest towards the online store.”
Spokesperson, Lotte Duty Free
with South Korea’s leading payment app called Toss, for which total membership has reached 10 million users,” says the spokesperson. “Since last year we have begun
running exclusive promotions with Kakao’s payment platform Kakao Pay as well. “The payment amount of Kakao
club membership as their personal information provided for Kakao Talk gets automatically transferred to our server.” Lotte has also set up duty free
industry exclusive partnerships with third party mobile/online payment platforms to facilitate shopping using the online store. “Our online customers can pay
Pay on the LDF Online Store surged by five times [compared with] the time before we signed up for the exclusive partnership,” comments the spokesperson.
Strategic collaborations Lotte ran a series of exclusive promotions throughout 2019, partnering with non-travel industry leading brands including Market
Lotte eyes ‘sharp rebound’ from ‘catastrophe’
In spite of the sharp reduction in customers visiting its stores, Lotte Duty Free is looking for a sharp rebound in business when the Covid-19 crisis lifts as foreign visitors start returning to South Korea and Korean travellers begin venturing overseas again. Last year was not without its
challenges for Lotte Duty Free and fellow South Korean operators. “South Korea’s travel retail industry
was disrupted by existing players’ pullout and new players’ entrance,” comments a Lotte Duty Free spokesperson. Additionally, the economic
60 TRBUSINESS
environment throughout 2019 was extremely unstable due to the diplomatic row between Washington and Beijing and the introduction of China’s new ecommerce law. “In spite of all these difficulties,
however, the industry achieved some remarkable records – KRW25 trillion sales and a 31.1% year-on-year rise,” adds the spokesperson. “Entering 2020 we are facing a
catastrophe that no one hardly expected. 2020 will probably go down in history as one of the most challenging and turbulent years the entire travel retail
industry has ever experienced.”
information about their travels, hotels, airlines and duty free shopping experiences. “We encourage user participation
by providing a KRW1 reward point per post,” describes the spokesperson. Lotte changed its reward system
last summer, breaking reward rates down into product units that allow the company to increase rates for unpopular products and reduce them for popular items. Lotte’s strong LDF Online Store
performance was matched by buoyant offline trading in the company’s five downtown stores and various airport shops in 2019, as domestic net sales rose by 17.6% to reach KRW9.4tn/$8.02bn. Lotte’s Myeongdong main store,
the world’s highest-selling duty free shop, recorded a 36% increase in sales last year. Sales at Lotte World Tower grew by 30% and revenue at Lotte’s COEX store increased by 25% last year.
Lotte’s empty L&T store at Incheon Airport. MAY 2020
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