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Tag: lalavla

  • GS Retail to exit beauty market, closing all Lalavla stores

    GS Retail to exit beauty market, closing all Lalavla stores

    CJ Olive Young looks set to solidify its front-runner position in the health and beauty store market, with GS Retail’s announcement that it will shut all of its Lalavla stores.

    Lalavla, GS Retail’s health and beauty store brand, will shut down all of its branches by the end of November.

    The brand’s online shopping mall will only take orders until Sept. 1 and will take customer inquiries about refunds or exchanges until Sept. 30.

    In 2005, GS Retail formed Watsons Korea — a joint venture with A.S. Watson, a Hong Kong-based health and beauty product retailer — to operate Watsons stores. It acquired the remaining 50 percent stake A.S. Watson held in the joint venture in 2017, becoming the sole owner and changing the health and beauty store’s name to Lalavla.

    Lalavla had as many as 200 branches in 2018, but the number quickly decreased to 34 branches this year as cosmetics sales decreased during the pandemic.

    The brand’s sales fell 37.5 percent on year to 25.1 billion won ($19.2 million) in the second quarter of 2020. Operating loss was 4.8 billion won, compared to a loss of 4.2 billion won the previous year. GS Retail hasn’t been providing sales figures for the brand since the third quarter that year, only reports the combined sales of Lalavla, its e-commerce division and subsidiaries.

    Once GS Retail shuts down all its Lalavla branches, the company said it will focus more on its convenience store and delivery business. It has been offering deliveries from its GS Fresh Mall branches to customers in Seoul, Gangwon and Chungcheong, since May.

    CJ Olive Young is expected to become the clear leader in the local health and beauty store market. The company has 59.1 percent of the market as of the first quarter, with 1,265 branches.

    Lotte Shopping decided to shut down all its individual LOHBs branches, the company’s health and beauty store brand, in November last year. It now only designates a small section at its Lotte Mart branches for cosmetics and health supplies, called LOHBs+.

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  • GS Retail to expand Lalavla network

    GS Retail to expand Lalavla network

    South Korean convenience store company GS Retail plans to grow its health and beauty store network by up to 300 this year.

    After running Watsons outlets through a 50-50 JV with AS Watson, GS Retail bought the balance of shares from the Hong Kong-based firm last year and launched its new Lalavla brand in February.

    “We have completed changing the storefront signs,” says a company official. “We will now focus on advertising our new brand and expanding our business.”

    There are now 191 Lalavla stores nationwide.

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  • Watsons in Korea has a new name: Lalavla

    Watsons in Korea has a new name: Lalavla

    Watsons personal and beauty care stores across Korea will go through a makeover under a new name “Lalavla,” its operator GS Retail announced on Tuesday in hopes to take on the dominant player Olive Young in the burgeoning street beauty market through localized appeal.

    GS Retail introduced Watsons, the biggest multi-beauty and personal care store brand in Asia, in a 50:50 joint venture with Hong Kong-based A.S. Watson Group in 2005. Last year it bought the remaining 50 percent stake from the retailer’s holding company Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. for 11.9 billion won ($10.8 million) to make Watsons Korea its fully-owned entity. It has since been working on a rebranding initiative.

    The new name – a combination of lalala and blah blah to mean happy chattering – aims to better appeal to young female customers, said a GS Retail official. The shops will be refurbished with the new logo by the end of March.

    There are currently 188 Watsons stores across Korea. GS Retail plans to bolster the number to catch up with CJ Group’s Olive Young, the country’s first and largest health and beauty retailer with 950 shops. Lotte Group runs 96 LOHBS stores and Shinsegae 10 Boots stores.

    Shares of GS Retail closed Tuesday down 1.31 percent at 37,800 won.