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Tag: Korea

  • To match Apple and Google, retailers ready mobile-pay system

    To match Apple and Google, retailers ready mobile-pay system

    After almost three years in development, the retail industry’s answer to Apple Pay is finally getting off the ground.

    A mobile payment app developed by Merchant Customer Exchange – a company founded in Aug. 2012 with funding from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and Best Buy Co. – has been tested by employees of the retailers and will get a limited trial run next month in stores, according to three people familiar with the situation.

    That means shoppers will soon be able to use the technology, called CurrentC, to pay for items with their phones.

    The challenge for CurrentC now is playing catch-up against established apps from Apple Inc., Google Inc. and others, and explaining to customers why they should use it. When Apple Pay rolled out last year, CurrentC was derided by critics as a lower-tech alternative that retailers supported because it would give them tighter control over shoppers’ transactions.

    Customers also will need assurances that the technology is safe, given the high-profile data breaches at retailers over the past few years, said Julie Conroy, a payments security analyst at Aite Group.

    CurrentC itself was hacked last year during an early test.

    “Trust is going to be a huge issue for them,” Conroy said.

    Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX), expects to formally introduce CurrentC some time in the third quarter, a spokeswoman for Lowe’s, part of the consortium, said in an e-mail.

    But Lowe’s will not be part of the initial rollout.

    Scott Rankin, MCX’s chief operating officer, confirmed in an e-mail that CurrentC will begin public tests this year, without being more specific. He also said MCX was “making good progress” on bringing the app to the market.

    “We expect there to be more than one successful player in mobile payments, and we expect to be one of them,” said Rankin, a former executive at Staples Inc.

    At stake is a fight over money and customer data. Retailers have long loathed paying fees for credit card use in their stores. That has led to battles on multiple fronts, including multibillion-dollar lawsuits and a successful lobbying effort that cut fees in the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform.

  • Onions-for-One Help Korea’s GS Retail Survive Depressed Markets

    Onions-for-One Help Korea’s GS Retail Survive Depressed Markets

    Convenience store owners love people like Bae Moon Sung. The 34-year-old finance worker lives alone and shops for almost everything at his local minimart.

    “Onions, cucumbers, they come in compact packages at convenience stores, which is more suitable for a single-person household like me,” he said. “They’re open 24 hours and they’re everywhere.”

    People like Bae are driving an expansion in convenience store chains that’s helping them outperform in depressed markets. Shares of GS Retail are up 112 per cent this year through Wednesday versus a 13 per cent slump in a gauge tracking consumer companies on the MSCI Korea Index. The risk the operator of GS25 outlets won’t pay its debt on time has fallen to 0.08 per cent from 0.14 per cent at the end of 2014, according to a Bloomberg default-risk model. Shares in CU store operator BGF Retail have risen 165 per cent.

    The chains’ popularity is in stark contrast to the overall industry in Asia’s fourth-largest economy. Department store sales fell 3.9 per cent in the first quarter, and that was before a deadly respiratory virus sapped confidence. Smaller households in Seoul as the population ages and family sizes shrink means consumers aren’t buying in bulk at supermarkets.

    “Retailers are suffering from low economic growth and online price competition,” Yu Jung Hyun, an analyst in Seoul at Daishin Securities, said. “But convenience stores have their own market. People still need to buy basic items close at hand.”

    Sales at the four main convenience store chains — CU, GS25, 7-Eleven and Buy the Way — have risen every quarter since at least the second three months of 2013, Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy data show. In May, sales were up 31.5 per cent from a year earlier thanks to more outlets and an increase in the price of cigarettes. Discount store sales meanwhile have dropped every quarter since the second quarter of 2012, the ministry’s data show.

     

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  • Lotte to open Bangkok duty free store

    Lotte to open Bangkok duty free store

    South Korean conglomerate Lotte is to open a “major downtown duty free store” in Bangkok. Lotte has confirmed the new store will open in early 2016. The location has not yet been revealed.

    Retail News broke news of the plan last week, reporting the store would be a joint venture between Lotte Group and Lotte Holdings of Japan, with the Korean partner holding 80 per cent.

    “The opening in the Thai capital is part of an ambitious international strategy designed to bolster Lotte’s strong sector leadership in South Korea, the world’s biggest duty free market,”

    Lotte, the world’s third largest duty free retailer, is involved in a strident expansion program which has seen it open in Japan’s Kansai International Airport, at Guam, Singapore and Indonesia in recent years. It is targeting the fast growing legions of newly cashed up Asian consumers travelling regionally and spending increasing amounts on duty free goods at airports, and downtown department stores.

    Lotte is also planning to open its first downtown duty free store in Japan – located in the upmarket Ginza shopping district.

  • 7-Eleven Smart Convenience Store

    7-Eleven Smart Convenience Store

    Customers of a 7-Eleven convenience store in South Korea can literally go dancing in the aisles…

    The new 7-Eleven Smart Convenience Store allows customers to enjoy virtual reality based on IT technologies. On the second floor of its Chinese Embassy store in Seoul’s Myeongdong, 7-Eleven placed six smart tables where customers can enjoy web surfing, gaming and watching Youtube videos in partnership with SK Telecom.

    Among the six tables, one features virtual reality technology. If a customer pushes a button saying “Together with Hyeri” (a member of K-pop girl group Girl’s Day), he or she will appear on a wide screen in the floor standing together with Hyeri, a spokesmodel for 7-Eleven.

    Customers can dance with Hyeri, and even take photos with the idol star. The photos will be forwarded directly to the customer’s smartphone.

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  • Shin calls for fresh goals for entire Lotte group

    Shin calls for fresh goals for entire Lotte group

    The 60-year-old chairman on Thursday became chairman of Lotte Holdings, the holding company of the Lotte Group in Japan, which was previously held by his brother Shin Dong-joo. This sealed his control of Lotte operations in both Korea and Japan. It is believed to be the first step in uniting the businesses in both countries.

    According to industry sources, Hwang Gak-kyu, president of policy coordination at Lotte Group, is already making adjustments to the chairman’s Vision 2018.

    In 2009, Shin teamed up with the Boston Consulting Group to devise long-term goals for the Korean retail giant to expand into a conglomerate that would be 10th-largest in Asia with annual revenues of 200 trillion won ($173 billion).

    “It seems that Chairman Shin has come to the conclusion that the vision needs to be readjusted, as the leadership has changed and the retail industry is also changing rapidly,” said a high ranking official at Lotte.

    Lotte Japan has far smaller revenues than Lotte Korea. In 2013, Lotte Korea generated 83 trillion won in revenue from 74 affiliates. On the contrary, the Japanese businesses only generated 5.7 trillion won in revenue from 37 affiliates.

    The biggest change in the vision is said to be “select and focus” and “synergy management.”

    Lotte said it is looking into the idea of choosing duty free shopping, hotels, chemicals and finance as core businesses and focus its resources on enhancing those businesses. Additionally, since food and beverages are key businesses in Lotte Japan, it plans to generate synergy with Lotte Shopping and Lotte Confectionery.

    For new growth engines, the retail conglomerate is likely to inject large amounts of investment, but the affiliates that are not picked will likely undergo heavy restructuring, and some will probably shut down.

    One of the key areas for Lotte is chemicals.

    On Friday, the day after Shin was officially made the head of Lotte Japan, he visited Lotte Chemical’s headquarters in Sindaebang-dong, southwestern Seoul, where he was briefed on business.

    On the contrary, investments in department stores and supermarkets is expected to decline. Lotte Group is expected to pursue merger and acquisitions in channels that combine offline and online shopping in order to raise synergy with existing branches and businesses.

    “Considering the size of changes that Lotte will undergo, we can’t say the funding we have is sufficient,” a Lotte official said. “Our investments will likely focus on quality more than on quantity.”

  • Missha Hong Kong makes return

    Missha Hong Kong makes return

    Korean cosmetics retailer Missha is returning to Hong Kong.

    Some 20 Missha Hong Kong stores were shuttered around New Year’s Eve this year when the previous local retail partner collapsed.

    Now Missha has a new partner – DKSH (DiethelmKellerSiberHegner) – which will apparently help it build a new network.

    Missha entered Hong Kong in 2004, four years after its launch in Korea. But during the last two years it has faced tough competition from new rival brands, including Etude House and Nature Republic.

    Missha’s parent Able C&C said on Tuesday it had signed a contract with Swiss based DKSH Hong Kong giving it exclusive rights to promote Missha in the territory.

    The first two stores quietly opened on June 30 ahead of the formal announcement – counters in DKSH duty free stores in Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui.

    The following day a standalone store opened inside Yuen Long Plaza.

    DKSH has reached an agreement with Mannings to sell the products through 200 stores by the end of July and in 300 by the end of next year.

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  • S.Korea picks Hotel Shilla JV, Hanwha to operate new Seoul duty-free stores

    S.Korea picks Hotel Shilla JV, Hanwha to operate new Seoul duty-free stores

    South Korean retail giants HDC Shilla Duty Free and Hanwha Galleria Timeworld on Friday clinched a high-profile bid to operate duty-free stores in downtown Seoul in what is seen as a golden ticket to bolstering their footing in a retail industry struggling from anemic consumer spending.

    Seven companies had vied for the license, the first of its kind open to large corporations in 15 years. Lotte Duty Free, HDC Shilla Duty Free, a joint venture between Hotel Shilla and Hyundai Development Co., and SK Networks were aiming to increase their market share, while E-land, Hanwha Galleria Timeworld, Hyundai DF and Shinsegae DF were trying to make a fresh entrance into the duty-free sector.

    Currently, four companies run seven duty-free stores in Seoul, whose main customers are foreign tourists, especially those from China. Their insatiable appetite for shopping has been a rare bright spot in the local retail sector grappling with sagging sales amid a weak economy.

    Buoyed by their spending, the duty-free market has been posting double-digit growth in the past five years, compared with crawling sales growth at department stores and hypermarkets.

    In 2014, duty-free stores in Seoul posted a combined sales of 4.4 trillion won (US$3.9 billion), which accounts for more than half of the country’s 8.3 trillion won duty-free market.

    Meanwhile, the customs agency also announced two smaller retailers who will be operating duty-free stores in Seoul and Jeju, South Korea’s southernmost resort island, respectively.

    The new licenses will be valid for five years under a revised customs regulation that shortened the contract period from 10 years. The winning bidders are required to open their stores within six months.

     

     

     

  • Brutal retail market awaits buyer of Tesco South Korea business

    Brutal retail market awaits buyer of Tesco South Korea business

    Any buyer of Tesco’s $6 billion South Korea unit will need a strategy to boost returns in a lethargic and saturated market for traditional retailers, likely involving real estate sales and a greater focus on Internet shopping.

    Britain’s Tesco has hired HSBC to advise on a potential sale of its South Korean unit, Homeplus, Reuters reported this month, in what could be Asia-Pacific’s largest private equity deal and the No. 2 merger in the Asian consumer sector.

    Given the scarcity of big buyout targets in Asia, the sale is generating strong interest among buyout firms including KKR & Co and Carlyle Group CG.N, sources with knowledge of the sale process said. That’s despite difficulties posed by South Korea’s crowded retail sector, a sluggish and fast-aging economy, plus regulatory and labor challenges.

    “Anyone going with the view of closing unprofitable shops, cutting work force, will be in for a surprise,” a senior Hong Kong-based investment banker familiar with the process said, citing likely opposition from labor unions.

    “It’s a tough market but there are some low-hanging fruits in terms of stripping property assets,” said the banker, who declined to be identified as the discussions are confidential.

    Homeplus Co Ltd’s property holdings, consisting mainly of stores, had a book value of 3.09 trillion won ($2.77 billion) as of the end of February, according to a regulatory filing.

    With about 400 stores including 140 hypermarkets, 88 of which it owns, Homeplus has raised about 1.2 trillion won since 2012 by selling and leasing back eight of its biggest-selling stores, according to South Korean deal website Invest Chosun.

    Its prime real estate holdings include a hypermarket in densely populated Seoul suburb Euijeongbu, which frequently ranks among its top 5 stores by sales.

    But it’s a crowded field. South Korea has nearly 500 hypermarkets for a population of 50 million, or twice what the industry considers optimal. The difficulties prompted Carrefour and Wal-Mart to quit the country in 2006.

    In a nod to a fiercely competitive market, Homeplus earlier this year sacrificed an equivalent of about 100 billion won in annual profit, or almost half of last year’s earnings, by cutting prices on some 500 kinds of fresh produce.

    “Competing by undercutting price has become the norm and is expected to continue in future,” said Lee Kyoung-hee, principal researcher at Shinsegae Research Institute.

    ONLINE GROWTH

    As the population ages faster than in any other developed economy and households shrink, retail sales in South Korea grew just 1.4 percent in each of the past two years, lagging broader economic growth.

    E-commerce, however, jumped 17 percent last year to 45.2 trillion won, or 14 percent of total retail sales, and hypermarkets have been scrambling to build share in a fragmented online segment where most players lose money.

    Homeplus’ share of South Korea’s online retail market has risen steadily but was still just 645 billion won last year, according to Euromonitor data in a CLSA report, for market share of just 2 percent, in line with larger rival E-Mart.

    “Hypermarket chains like Homeplus have been bolstering online sales as a possible growth solution, among admittedly few options,” said Kim Tae-hong, analyst at Yuanta Securities Korea.

    Lower priced warehouses have been another bright spot for Korean retailers, but while both E-Mart and Lotte Shopping’s (023530.KS) third-placed Lotte Mart have warehouse brands, Homeplus does not.

    Meanwhile total revenues for existing hypermarket stores have declined since 2012 when new rules required them to close for two Sundays a month to protect traditional markets. Homeplus saw a drop in same-store sales for two straight years.

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  • Tesco’s South Korea empire draws interest from private equity giants

    Tesco’s South Korea empire draws interest from private equity giants

    KKR and Carlyle, the US private equity firms, have been invited to bid for the Asian business, which trades as Homeplus, while London-based CVC Capital Partners has also been asked to bid.

    The decision to sell the South Korean stores comes as the retail giant’s chief executive Dave Lewis looks to streamline the business, to concentrate on its core UK shops and raise cash.

    After two decades of uninterrupted growth, Tesco has been struggling after it became distracted by overseas expansion and failed to spot the threat of discounters like Aldi and Lidl.

    The retailer is now looking to slash capital spending, as well as fund a vicious supermarket price war and put more people on the shop floor.

    Hong Kong-based Affinity Equity Partners and Asia-focused MBK Partners were also invited to bid, and Hyundai Department Store, which is separate from the car maker, said today that it was considering bidding.

    Tesco, advised by HSBC, has asked for indicative bids later this month.

    If the sale is achieved it would be Asia’s biggest private equity deal and the region’s second biggest consumer deal ever. Sovereign wealth funds could be involved in the financing of it, given the size of the sale.

    Homeplus is Tesco’s largest business outside Britain, with more than 400 stores, 500 franchise stores and over six million customers a week.

    But the business has been under some pressure, with falling like-for-like sales for the last two years.

    Tesco is also selling its £1 billion Dunnhumby data business, and has already sold its Blinkbox digital entertainment service and Tesco Broadband to TalkTalk for an undisclosed sum.

  • Who will dominate Korea’s mobile payment market?

    Who will dominate Korea’s mobile payment market?

    South Korean heavyweights ranging from Internet to retail to tech companies are all paying keen attention to preoccupy the mobile payment system market, which hasn’t yet taken off.

    Since Daum Kakao first ignited the competition by rolling out its mobile payment Kakao Pay last year with its 4 million subscribers. Korea’s largest portal operator Naver unveiled Naver Pay this July, by joining hands with 50,000 partner stores.

    Retail giants are also following suit. Lotte and Shinsegae are currently developing L Pay and SSG Pay respectively in order for consumers to more conveniently buy goods with retail technologies. They plan to let customers to save all the information of credit cards, gift cards, cash and coupons on smartphones to easily pay for things. Membership points will be accumulated on smartphone apps.

    Smartphone conglomerates are no exceptions here. Korea’s largest smartphone maker Samsung Electronics is set to unveil its new mobile payment system Samsung Pay in September. It is expected to be embedded in its latest smartphones like Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge. As the tech giant recently acquired Boston startup LoopPay, which has magnetic secure technology, Samsung Pay will be compatible with existing magnetic card readers. This way, stores do not have to change their readers separately to use the service.

    In the smartphone market, Samsung has to compete with its global rivals Apple and Google. American search giant Google unveiled Android Pay at its I/O Conference 2015 late in April at San Francisco. Samsung’s arch rival Apple unveiled Apple Pay last October, and is now in discussion with China’s biggest e-commerce company Alibaba in a bid to make forays into the China’s market.

    Market watchers say the mobile payment system, which heralds the opening of the Fintech market – a combination of finance and technology – will have a great impact on the local financial market. Commercial banks have so far been in charge of small sum transaction but it is likely to be shifted to non-financial institutions if the mobile payment service takes off.

    Daum Kakao’s Kakao Pay, which is the first mobile payment service in Korea, already saw more than 4 million subscribers last month. Though it still does not have a great impact on the market with a limited number of partner stores, analysts say they have secured a meaningful number of clients.

    Korea’s financial watchdog said when the number of Kakao Pay’s subscribers reach 2 million, it will have a significant meaning as a financial transaction tool. Currently, no official figure of daily transaction has been unveiled.

    The local mobile payment market is expected to continue to grow, according to market observers. In a nation dubbed as IT powerhouse, many users still find it difficult to buy goods online as they have to install various programs such as Active X and keyboard security programs. Also, they have to type in their credit card information or personal information every time they pay.

    However, the emergence of the mobile payment system is removing all the hassles and only requires simple authentications such as smartphone numbers or password.

    According to research firm Gartner, the local mobile payment service market came to around 3.8 trillion won in the fourth quarter of last year, up 65 percent during the same period of the previous year. The global mobile payment service market also continued to grow around 30 to 40 percent annually for the past years. It would reach around 721 trillion won by 2017.

    “There is not yet a dominant player in the local mobile payment service market. Thus, fierce competition among tech firms hoping to preoccupy the market is expected in the second half of this year,” according to a market observer.

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  • Hollys Espresso set for Vietnam debut

    Hollys Espresso set for Vietnam debut

    Hollys Espresso, the Korean cafe chain with a particular Parisian decor, will open its first outlet in Vietnam on July 9.

    The flagship retailer can be situated in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis and would be the first of three to be buying and selling in Vietnam by the yr’s finish.

    Hollys Espresso’s native franchise associate is TNC Holdings, which just lately gained the native franchise rights for Chilly Stone Creamery ice cream cafe chain.

    Director of franchising with TNC, Vercy Luu, informed Inside Retail Asia the primary two Chilly Stone Creamery shops will open this calendar yr. As beforehand reported, TNC plans 30 Chilly Stone shops in Vietnam, the primary in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis.

    TNC additionally has the Incito Espresso franchise and operates 5 cafes in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis and Vietnam’s capital Hanoi.

    And it operates two Mizuchi Japanese scorching pot eating places in Hanoi, with plans to open 5 in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis over the subsequent six months.

    TNC has a imaginative and prescient to be one of many prime 10 shopper and retail corporations in Vietnam, grossing US$1 billion by 2020.

    “Chilly Stone Creamery is a premium American ice cream idea and the product will probably be very inviting to the Vietnamese individuals,” Phan Duc Binh, CEO of TNC, stated on the time of the awarding of the Chilly Stone rights.

    TNC specialises in branding, distribution and manufacturing of fast paced shopper items, together with drinks, particularly espresso and tea, and private care merchandise. TNC additionally owns retail manufacturers and franchises, together with comfort shops, supermarkets and F&B chains.

  • GigaMedia snaps up StrawberryNet.com

    GigaMedia snaps up StrawberryNet.com

    Taiwan’s GigaMedia, a web-based video games and computing providers supplier, is to purchase 70 per cent  of worldwide eCommerce cosmetics retailer Strawberry Cosmetics.

    Taipei-based, Singapore-listed GigaMedia can pay about US$93.1 million for the stake.

    Strawberry Cosmetics owns and operates the web site StrawberryNET.com and the associated cellular software. It has a complete gross sales and distribution community masking main nations worldwide, with growing enterprise in Asia, is translated into 38 languages and has a worldwide buyer base of greater than three million.

    Strawberry Cosmetics has additionally established a worldwide sourcing community of a complete vary of magnificence merchandise with greater than 700 manufacturers and 30,000 SKUs.

    During the last 4 years the web site has achieved annual gross sales exceeding $200 million, largely in Oceania, the US and Europe.

    GigaMedia believes Strawberrynet.com has vital progress potential in Asia.

    “As Strawberry Cosmetics is a longtime and confirmed eCommerce platform with an present buyer base, the corporate is of the view that the transaction would assist diversify the corporate’s general enterprise dangers and broaden the corporate’s enterprise portfolio within the web and know-how sector and permit the corporate to faucet into the quick rising magnificence and cosmetics eCommerce market,” GigaMedia stated in a press release.

    It sees potential vital synergies from leveraging its IT, on-line and offline advertising, in addition to its native connections in numerous Asian nations together with China, Japan and South Korea.

    GigaMedia’s on-line video games enterprise is an progressive chief in Asia with rising recreation improvement, distribution and operation capabilities, in addition to platform providers for video games; focus is on cellular video games and social on line casino video games. The Firm’s cloud computing enterprise is concentrated on offering enterprises in Higher China with essential communications providers and IT options that improve flexibility, effectivity and competitiveness.

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  • Tonymoly China launch marks big’s subsequent international leap

    Tonymoly China launch marks big’s subsequent international leap

    South Korean beauty maker Tonymoly says it’ll increase its funding in China after a market debut subsequent month, to faucet deeper into the fast-growing magnificence market.

    Tonymoly, Korea’s seventh-largest beauty model by 2014 gross sales, has posted double-digit progress since its institution in 2006 and has about 1800 outlets in 20 nations, together with Hong Kong, the US and Russia.

    Buoyed by strong gross sales, Tonymoly China is getting ready for its debut on July 10, pledging to broaden funding in China driving the ‘Okay-beauty growth’.

    “China has an enormous progress potential. We’ll maximise the expansion potential by immediately getting into the Chinese language market, which has turn out to be the corporate’s second home market,” CFO Hong Hyun-ki stated in a briefing.

    “We’ll construct factories in China to supply quite a lot of beauty manufacturers and open model outlets throughout the nation utilizing the fund from the general public providing.”

    Tonymoly logged 305.2 billion gained (US$275.four million) in gross sales final yr, with 11.four per cent coming from obligation free outlets and shops in Myeongdong, which closely depend on Chinese language shoppers.

    Tonymoly has provided to promote its shares between 26,400 gained and 30,200 gained per share, which might increase between 77.6 billion gained and 88.eight billion.

    A rising variety of Korean beauty companies are eyeing the worldwide market because the home market has turn into saturated and progress has been slowed resulting from fierce competitors and rising advertising prices.

    Whereas native companies discover it more durable to enter European and American markets, they’ve gained big reputation amongst Chinese language shoppers who love Okay-pop stars and are wanting to mimic their types.

    China’s cosmetics market is the world’s third-biggest market value $26 billion a yr, international market researcher Euromonitor stated, anticipating it should develop eight per cent annually from now to 2017.

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  • Korean division retailer gross sales rise

    Korean division retailer gross sales rise

    Korean division retailer gross sales are on the rise.

    Figures launched by the Ministry of Commerce, Business and Power at this time (June 29) present a second consecutive month-to-month improve in Might, boosted by meals and attire.

    However the figures ought to be taken with warning: the impression of the MERS outbreak in Korea gained’t be mirrored within the figures till June, when shoppers began staying house to scale back the danger of an infection.

    Gross sales Development of Korea’s Main Retail Channels for Might reviews a three.1 per cent improve in division retailer gross sales by the main gamers and a extra modest zero.5 per cent improve from low cost department shops.

    In April, gross sales rose 1.three per cent and zero.02 per cent respectively.

    Analysts attribute Might’s will increase to gross sales of luxurious branded items, womens informal attire, childrenswear and golfing gear.

    Meals drove low cost retailer gross sales, fuelled by discounting promotions, however childrenswear and tv gross sales subsided.

    Comfort shops continued to thrive, posting a 31.5 per cent progress, largely because of cigarette worth will increase and greater than regular gross sales of prompt and recent meals.

  • Lotte opens Jeju obligation free retailer

    Lotte opens Jeju obligation free retailer

    Lotte has opened a 6612 sqm Jeju obligation free retailer.

    The brand new retailer, constructed at a price of US$72 million, spans three flooring of the Lotte Metropolis Lodge in Jeju metropolis’s Doryeong-ro district, within the island’s CBD.

    Lotte Obligation Free says it’s almost 3 times the dimensions of the older retailer it replaces.

    Lee Hong Kyun, Lotte Obligation Free’s president, says the corporate plans to develop different leisure and cultural points of interest close by to attract much more vacationer clients to the location “Lotte Obligation Free Jeju retailer, standing on the bottom of its native company, Lotte Obligation Free Jeju Co Ltd, will make a purchasing cluster in Jeju and appeal to overseas vacationers in accordance with the tourism improvement coverage of Jeju,” he stated on the retailer’s opening ceremony.

    The brand new retailer is predominantly concentrating on Mainland Chinese language vacationers and features a cosmetics zone boasting 70 worldwide fragrance and cosmetics manufacturers.

    “Lotte Obligation Free has analysed the preferences of Chinese language vacationers and launched 270 manufacturers, together with international luxurious manufacturers, jewelry, equipment, cosmetics, watches, liquor and tobacco.” the corporate stated in a press assertion.

    “The worldwide luxurious jewelry manufacturers Bvlgari and Tiffany & Co are solely situated in Lotte Obligation Free Jeju retailer.”