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Tag: Lotte

  • Lotte Mart Vietnam sales grow to $221m

    Lotte Mart Vietnam sales grow to $221m

    With 12 stores, hypermarket chain Lotte Mart Vietnam chalked up sales of VND5 trillion (US$221.58 million) last year – 30 per cent growth year-on-year.

    Foot traffic also grew 20 per cent, says CEO Hong Won Sik.

    Its latest outlet opened late last month, and the South Korean company is looking at more mergers and acquisitions so it can achieve its target of 60 stores by 2020, says Hong.

    He says Lotte Mart Vietnam also plans to expand to convenience stores and eCommerce.

    With more than 20 subsidiaries in Vietnam, Lotte has invested more than $2 billion, and is set to double the total investment with plans to build an urban area in the east of Ho Chi Minh City.

  • Lotte to expand investment in Indonesia

    Lotte to expand investment in Indonesia

    Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin will meet Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo during his three-day state visit to Korea which began Sunday.

    According to a Lotte official, Sunday, Shin and Widodo will have a meeting at Lotte Hotel in central Seoul today, to discuss advancements of the group’s investment and business in the country.

    President Widodo is expected to promise full support for the group’s advance into the country.

    Lotte Group is currently operating a Lotte Department Store with two duty-free stores and 41 Lotte Marts as well as Angel-in-us cafes and Lotteria fast food restaurants in Indonesia.

    Especially, Lotte Shopping Avenue that opened in the capital city of Jakarta in 2013 has reportedly gained huge popularity among Indonesians. Lotte Shopping Avenue is a shopping complex consisting of the group’s affiliates such as its department store, duty-free store and Lotteria.

    In 2010, Lotte Group’s petrochemical unit Lotte Chemicals entered the Indonesian market by acquiring Southeast Asia’s leading petrochemical company Titan Chemicals.

    Lotte Group also signed a memorandum of understanding with the country’s largest conglomerate Salim Group in a bid to enter Indonesia’s e-commerce market. The two groups are expected to establish a joint corporation by the end of this year and launch the service next year.

    President Widodo is also expected to have a summit with President Park Geun-hye on the same day and meet other Korean businessmen. He is accompanied by Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution and Trade Minister Thomas Lembong.

    Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and Head of the Investment Coordinating Board Franky Sibarani came ahead of their president.

    Widodo met with the Indonesian community in Korea at the Indonesian Embassy on Sunday morning.

    Indonesia is now one of the world’s top ten manufacturing countries and a core member state of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) where over 2,200 Korean firms are conducting business.

    Korea is reportedly the fifth-largest investor in Indonesia, with total investments reaching $1.2 billion while trade between the two countries peaked at $30 billion in 2011.

  • Korea’s Lotte opens cinema in Hong Kong

    Korea’s Lotte opens cinema in Hong Kong

    Tucked away in a nondescript corner of Shau Kei Wan, on the eastern tip of Hong Kong Island, is the city’s newest movie house, L Cinema.

    The first theatre in Hong Kong from Lotte Cinema – South Korea’s second-largest movie-theatre chain – the complex, which opened in February, comprises two auditoria of 87 seats each.

    A visit to the second-floor theatre is like taking a trip back in time: there’s a simple counter serving snacks and a few posters on the walls but that’s about it. And while it looks out of place among the key cutters, launderettes and domestic-helper agencies around Mong Lung Street, an area not big on entertainment or retail, it’s a welcome addition, according to movie-goers who visited one wet Monday night.

    “It’s a really convenient location for people living in the Eastern District,” says 14-year-old Shau Kei Wan resident Felix Ho. “I’ll be coming a lot.”

    “I just watched Zootopia and it was a really comfortable experience. Plus the ticket prices are really good!” says Janet Ho, who is accompanied by two school friends. “The staff are friendly and the sound was fine, though it wasn’t as good as some cinemas, but that doesn’t bother me.”

    Daily screening schedules can be found on the L Cinema Shau Kei Wan Facebook page.

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  • Korea to allow four new duty-free shops in Seoul

    Korea to allow four new duty-free shops in Seoul

    Korea will allow four more duty-free shops to open in Seoul to meet growing demand from Chinese tourists, the government announced Friday.

    “Four new licenses will be issued for operation in Seoul, while the city of Busan and Gangwon Province will also get one each,” Lee Myung-gu, director of the Korea Customs Service, said at a press briefing in Sejong.

    The licensees will be selected by the end of this year through an open competition, the official explained, with one ticket reserved for midsized companies.

    Seoul currently has nine tax-exempt retail outlets. Friday’s decision will raise the total to 13.

    Duty-free stores are a rare bright spot in Korea’s lackluster retail sector, growing by an average 20 per cent over the past five years. Last year, they posted a combined 9.2 trillion won ($8 billion) in sales.

    Major retail giants Lotte Duty Free, part of Lotte Group, SK Networks of SK Group and Hyundai Department Store hailed the decision, vowing an all-out effort to win a license.

    For Lotte and SK, in particular, this represents a second chance after they failed to renew the license for shops that they have been running for years.

    “We will make utmost efforts to win the license back,” SK Networks said in a press statement after the announcement.

    SK’s only duty-free outlet inside the Walkerhill Hotel in eastern Seoul faces closure in May with the expiry of its license.

    Lotte, which runs the top duty-free store by sales in Seoul, has to shut its Lotte World Tower outlet in southern Seoul by the end of June. The Lotte World Tower shop ranked third by sales in 2014.

    Hyundai Department Store said it wants to open a tax-free retail outlet at Coex in the southern shopping district of Gangnam.

    The government last year changed its policy on duty-free shops, holding an open competition for operational licenses for the first time. HDC Shilla Duty Free, Hanwha Galleria and SM Duty Free grabbed new licenses to open outlets in Seoul, while Doosan and Shinsegae beat Lotte and SK to win theirs.

    The government, however, has changed its stance again this year, extending the operational licenses of local duty-free stores to 10 years from the current five. Also, the licenses will be automatically renewed to help the companies run their businesses in a more sustainable way.

    The decision to open the field wider for competition is a move in line with the government’s efforts to grow tourism and revive the sluggish domestic economy and create jobs, the KCS explained in a press statement. It expects the new licenses to spur domestic investment of 1 trillion won and 5,000 new jobs.

    Korea is the world’s largest duty-free market, accounting for more than 10 per cent of global revenues from duty-free shops.

    In 2014, it saw foreign tourist arrivals rising to a record 14.2 million, greatly helped by a surge in visitors from neighbouring China.

     

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  • Central Group wins Big C Vietnam auction

    Central Group wins Big C Vietnam auction

    Thai retail conglomerate Central Group has won the bidding battle for Groupe Casino’s Big C Vietnam business.

    Groupe Casino has confirmed Central paid €1 billion (US$1.14 billion), which will be used to pay down debt.

    That price is as much as $300 million more than the French retailer reportedly expected to get for the business whose value was earlier publicised at around US$800 million.

    One of the rival bidders – Lotte Group of Korea – is believed to have withdrawn from the process when it became clear the price would exceed $1 billion.

    Casino says it will net €920 million after sale costs.

    Central Group is already building a substantial collection of assets in Vietnam, rolling out Robins department stores in main centres and acquiring a controlling interest in the country’s largest electronics retail chain Nguyen Kim. Outside Vietnam it owns department stores in Italy, Germany and Indonesia, amongst other markets. Worldwide it boasts 4400 stores under various brands.

    In an odd twist, Central was a minority shareholder in the Big C Thailand operation which Groupe Casino sold a majority 58.6 per cent stake to rival Thai retailer Berli Jucker last month. Berli Jucker is controlled by tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, who last year paid €3.1 billion for German owned Metro Group’s hypermarket business in Vietnam. Berli Jucker is believed to have bid for Big C Vietnam but lost out to Central.

    The Big C Vietnam operation comprises 43 stores and 30 shopping malls. It turned over  €586 million in 2015.

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  • Lotte pulls out of Big C Vietnam race

    Lotte pulls out of Big C Vietnam race

    South Korean retail heavyweight Lotte has reportedly withdrawn from the bidding battle for Big C Vietnam.

    Reuters, quoting unnamed sources familiar with the matter, said the company was not keen to bid aggressively for the supermarket network. Lotte already has its own network of hypermarkets in Vietnam and will no doubt have costed a bid for Big C based on the value of the market share and assets it would acquire versus the cost of continuing its own organic store network growth.

    France’s Groupe Casino is auctioning off the Vietnam business having earlier sold its stake in Big C Thailand to Thai import and export firm Berli Jucker for about US$6.2 billion.

    Lotte Group, which controls Lotte Shopping, declined to comment on the report.

    Big C opened its first Vietnam store in 1998 and has 30 stores in cities across the country.

    At the time it put the business on the market, Groupe Casino said it hoped to be paid about US$813 million, which would be spent paying down debt.

    However based on current bids for the business, sources are now estimating the sale could net closer to $1 billion.

    Thailand’s Central Group, which is has been approached by Berli Jucker to buy its minority stake in Big C Thailand and has a growing portfolio of retail businesses in Vietnam, is thought to remain in the hunt, along with Berli Jucker which through an affiliated company bought Metro Vietnam from Germany’s Metro AG last year and is building a convenience store network in the country under the banner B’Smart.

    Reuters reports at least 10 offers were initially received for the business, with the final round of tender due this week.

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  • Lotte El Cube – Korea’s new compact mall

    Lotte El Cube – Korea’s new compact mall

    In a bid to overturn the sluggish growth of traditional brick-and-mortar retail, Lotte Department Store is launching a new type of shopping mall in Seoul, the Lotte El Cube.

    In a trendy university neighborhood, the relatively small store focuses specifically on young, fashion-conscious shoppers – a departure from the retailer’s usual strategy of offering something for everyone at its department stores.

    Lotte El Cube 4

    Covering 630 sqm in a three-storey building, the Lotte El Cube houses 20 clothing brands, mostly casual in style. Featured labels include Pigment, PlayNoMore and Tomotom’s.

    “El Cube can adopt different concepts and focuses, such as beauty and lifestyle, depending on the location and needs of consumers,” says Lotte, which plans a second such outlet also in Seoul within a year.

    Lotte says it took its cue from Japan’s Isetan Department Store, which has several branches with different offerings. Isetan Mirror is dedicated to cosmetics and beauty products, while its Alta mall targets shoppers in their 20s.

    Lotte El Cube 5

    Known for its urban art and indie music culture, the neighbourhood where El Cube has set up is also attracting start-ups. The average number of daily users of nearby Hongik University Station grew from 72,000 in 2014 to 78,000 last year, and the neighborhood is also expanding in size.

    Lotte El Cube 1

    Annual combined sales at South Korea’s department stores – Hyundai and Shinsegae as well as Lotte – have had negative growth since 2014. Lotte is confident El Cube will attract new customers and become a fresh source of revenue amid unfavorable market conditions.

    “The key is to find new consumers as department stores are expected to face headwinds and low growth,” says Lotte merchandise strategy division head Woo Gil-jo.

    To match other stores in the area, El Cube will have extended shopping hours, from midday to 10pm.

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  • Lotte opens 2nd duty-free store in Tokyo

    Lotte opens 2nd duty-free store in Tokyo

    Lotte Duty Free, South Korea’s No. 1 duty-free operator, opened a duty-free store in Tokyo on Thursday to target rising travelers, as part of efforts to expand its global presence.

    The duty-free store opened in the upscale shopping district of Ginza, the second following one in the Japanese capital in late January.

    Lotte, the world’s No. 3 duty-free operator, said it will strengthen its brand competitiveness in Japan, which attracted a huge influx of Chinese travelers last year.

    Lotte chairman Shin Dong-bin and his family, including his mother, wife and son, attended the opening ceremony. His father and corporate founder Kyuk-ho and his elder brother and former vice president Dong-joo did not attend.

    The rare family gathering at a public event was seen as an effort to show internal unity as Lotte has been trying to improve its tarnished corporate image following a prolonged succession feud between the founder’s two brothers.

    “The duty-free business has created some noise in South Korea, but I hope it to do well,” Shin told Yonhap News Agency during the ceremony. “I think this store is better than I expected.”

    Lotte lost its duty-free license in Lotte World Tower in southern Seoul in a November bid, amid the family succession feud and criticism for its dominance in the domestic market.

    Shin said his company will open a new tax-free store in Thailand in June, and two more in Japan — Osaka in early 2017 and Fukuoka later that year.

    Lotte, the retail giant who runs businesses in Korea and Japan, said the new duty-free shop is targeting 150 billion won (US$131 million) in sales this year and it plans to open additional shops in Japan over the next decade.

    Foreign visitors to Japan hit a record high of 19.69 million in 2015, marking the first time since 1970 that inbound travelers surpassed those who headed abroad, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. Koreans were the biggest tourist group to Japan by nationality, followed by Chinese with 3.78 million.

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  • Lotte declares $860m Japan target at Ginza launch

    Lotte declares $860m Japan target at Ginza launch

    Lotte Duty Free anticipates that sales at its spectacular new downtown duty free shop in Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district will reach KRW150bn/$129m in its first year. At the opening today, the retailer also announced plans to open four to five stores in other regions in Japan and expects total sales from its stores in the country to grow to one trillion won ($860m) within a decade.

    The Korean-style duty free shop in Tokyo, Japan marks Lotte Duty Free’s entry to the country’s downtown market. A source at the company told us: “We will create a new paradigm for duty free in Japan as we have done in South Korea.”

    ‘STEPPING STONE’

    Today, the South Korean duty free and travel retailer went further by outlining its goal to become the world’s number one duty free player. Sunwook Jang, President of Lotte Duty Free (pictured above in the centre), commented: “Japan is rising as the biggest rival country (to Korea) in inviting Chinese tourists. By using the Tokyo Ginza store as a stepping stone, we will strengthen the brand competitiveness and advance the date of becoming the global number one duty free shop.

    “We will keep expanding (our) overseas stores, publicise the competitiveness of Korean products and grow together with the SMEs in the overseas market.”

    In a statement, the company goes on to say: “Lotte Duty Free plans to continuously expand overseas stores in order to let the world know the superiority of the Korean-style duty free shop and strengthen the competitiveness of the duty free industry in Korea.”

    Currently, Lotte Duty Free has overseas retail operations at Jakarta Airport and Jakarta downtown in Indonesia), Kansai Airport in Japan and Guam airport, and it is accelerating the expansion of new overseas stores in Bangkok, Thailand and Osaka, Japan. The company first entered the Indonesian market in 2012.

    GINZA HIGHLIGHTS

    The shopping district of Ginza attracts 20 million visitors per year and Lotte Duty Free’s store is claimed to be the biggest duty free shop in Tokyo at 4,396sq m in total area.

    The shop offers shoppers 300 brands in categories such as watches, jewellery, cosmetics, perfumes, electronics and accessories. Popular Korean brands like MCM, Whoo, IOPE, Mediheal and competitive Korean SME brands are expected to spread the K-beauty and K-fashion message more widely across the Japanese market.

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  • Jucker votes for Big C buy

    Berli Jucker shareholders have voted in favour of the US$6.2 billion acquisition of a majority stake in Big C Thailand.

    The vote – virtually unanimous – followed news the listed company had secured funding for the purchase from a syndicate of 15 banks and means the deal is now all but complete. Settlement is expected late this month.

    But while the future of Big C Thailand now appears to be resolved, negotiations continue over the fate of Big C Vietnam, a smaller, less profitable business controlled by France-based Casino Group, which is shedding overseas assets to reduce its debt exposure.

    Casino has a 58.6 per cent controlling interest in Big C Thailand, which Berli Jucker will now acquire.

    In Vietnam, Thai tycoon Charoan Sirivadhanabhakdi, through another business, has recently purchased the Metro hypermarket business from Metro AG of Germany, to bolt on to Berli Jucker’s B’Smart convenience store network.

    Charoan was thus a favourite to acquire the Big C Vietnam operations to build even greater critical mass, and lodged a bid prior to the first round deadline with his soon to be Big C Thailand partner, Central Group.

    But sources within Asia’s business community are now confident Korea’s Lotte and Japan’s Aeon are frontrunners. Lotte runs the market leading Lotte Mart hypermarket business in Vietnam and would gain a significant foothold in the nation if it could secure Big C as well.

    Aeon, which is building shopping centres in Vietnam main cities, reportedly submitted an offer that valued the business at more than US$800 million according to sources quoted in Vietnam media.

    Lotte also submitted a bid prior to the first round deadline.

    Casino has declined comment on the Vietnam sale other than to say it was “progressing well” when it reacted to ratings agency Standard & Poor’s decision to cut its credit rating to junk status  on Monday

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  • Services give Korean online retailers the edge

    Services give Korean online retailers the edge

    Online shopping operators are turning to personalised services as they try to differentiate themselves in a burgeoning industry.

    eCommerce sites are no longer just selling and quick-shipping products: they are taking care of small tasks like shoe polishing through to more extensive services that include interior remodelling, industry watchers say.

    Further blurring the online-offline boundary, these operators are taking broader steps by putting together an array of services instead of specialising in a single category like food delivery and cab hailing. Prices range from 6000 won (US$5) for a shoe shine to 40,000 won for a car wash.

    11st Street started running “Life Plus” on its mobile application last week, offering visiting services for car washing, house cleaning, laundry pickup, custom shoes and shirts, and home interior. Customers can place their orders online and receive the services when and where they want. They are entitled to the same discounts, coupons and payment tools as people shopping for goods.

    Some of the services are not yet available nationwide, but 11st Street plans to fix that soon and add more choices.

    “We put out Life Plus first as an O2O (online-to-offline) service category, and we intend to turn it into an O2O service portal,” a company spokesman said.

    Industry competitor Gmarket started a home cleaning service this month, covering home appliances, kitchens and bathrooms. The service offers detailed cleaning, such as for mattresses, kitchen hoods and washing machines to bidets.

    “We will be expanding what we have to overall home management – moving, insect control, home organising and such,” said Sohn Hyung-sool, head of the life and kitchen team at Gmarket.

    Lotte.com renewed its rental services last month, more than doubling the number of service providers that now have added car tires, bidets and massage chairs. The online market can also send people to take care of the elderly. The company said it lets customers pre-consult before ordering so that they can consider available options without pressure.

    “Our website for offered services was more about advertising,” a company official said. “It will be changing soon to show the specific price for each service and to give customers easier access to consulting and purchasing.”

  • Lotte, Salim to set up e-commerce platform solution JV in Indonesia

    Lotte, Salim to set up e-commerce platform solution JV in Indonesia

    South Korea’s retail conglomerate Lotte Group said Sunday that it plans to form a joint e-commerce venture with Indonesia’s biggest conglomerate Salim Group to grab a pie of the rapidly growing e-commerce market in Indonesia.

    According to Lotte Group, its Chairman Shin Dong-bin on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) agreement with Salim Group Chairman Anthony Salim to establish an e-commerce platform solution joint venture in the first half of this year. They aim to officially launch the company early next year.

    The South Korean retail mogul expects the Indonesian online retail market to grow to 25 trillion won ($20.27 billion) in value by 2020 after the market grew to 3.2 trillion won in 2014. The two companies plan to set up a comprehensive e-commerce platform solution and logistics service that will allow Lotte’s 41 offline retail stores and one department store operating in the Southeast Asian country as well as Salim’s 11,000 offline convenient stores, Indomaret, to sell and deliver products to Indonesian consumers. They will also introduce some popular products of Lotte Mart and Lotte Department Store in Korea through the new platform.

    In Indonesia, Lotte is operating one department store, 41 retail stores (including two grocery stores), 31 Lotteria fast-food franchises, two Angel-in-us cafés and two Lotte duty-free shops (one in airport and the other in downtown). In 2010, the retail group acquired Titan Chemicals, one of the leading petrochemical company in Southeast Asia, to gain a foothold in the petrochemical industry in the region.

    Salim Group, the biggest Indonesian conglomerate, operates a diverse array of business ranging from food, infrastructure, logistics, telecommunications, media and automobile, to real estate.

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  • Lotte in joint e-commerce venture in Indonesia

    Lotte in joint e-commerce venture in Indonesia

    Lotte Group is planning a joint effort to enter the e-commerce market in Indonesia, which has a population of almost 250 million people.

    The company plans to start building up the e-commerce venture with Indonesia’s biggest conglomerate, the Salim Group, during the first half of this year and expects to be in full operation by early next year.

    According to the Korean retail giant on Sunday, the deal was agreed when Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin met with Anthony Salim, the chairman of Salim Group in Singapore on Friday, during the Asia Business Council meeting.

    Lotte hopes to secure a strong foothold in the e-commerce market in one of Southeast Asia’s biggest markets by employing an omnichannel retailing strategy and establishing a stable delivery service by utilizing the existing networks Lotte’s and Salim’s offline stores. Lotte has one department store in Indonesia but has 41 retail stores. Salim Group has 11,000 Indomaret convenience stores.

    The Korean retailer said it also plans to introduce selected products that are popular in Korea to the Indonesian market.

    Under Chairman Shin, Lotte Group has been aggressively expanding its overseas businesses and Indonesia has been considered one of its key strategic markets.

    The Korean retail giant first got involved in the Indonesian market in 2008 when it acquired 10 chain stores of the Dutch discount store Makro.

    The advance into e-commerce comes as Indonesia’s online market has been growing rapidly. The country’s online market, which is estimated to have been about 3.2 trillion won ($2.5 billion) in 2014 is expected to expand to about 25 trillion won by 2020. This is largely due to the growing internet distribution, which already has exceeded 30 percent of its population.

    Smartphone distribution, which speeds up the growth of e-commerce, was 21.3 percent in Indonesia as of 2014.

    This figure is expected to reach 40 percent by the end of this year as faster LTE service was adopted last year.

    The Salim Group is Indonesia’s biggest conglomerate that is involved in wide range of businesses from food, distribution, telecommunication, media, automobile manufacturing and property development. It is most famous for its instant noodles Indomie. Additionally Salim Group’s logistic company Indomarco ranks No.1 in Indonesia.

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  • South Korea January dept, discount store sales seen rebounding from December

    South Korea January dept, discount store sales seen rebounding from December

    Annual sales at South Korea’s top department and discount stores in January were seen rebounding from the previous month, finance ministry estimates showed on Friday, backing recent policymaker comments that consumption is steadily recovering.

    Combined sales at department stores run by Hyundai Department Store, Lotte Shopping and Shinsegae rose 9.6 percent in January from a year ago, the finance ministry said in a monthly report.

    Sales at major discount stores were seen to jump 13.4 percent over the same period, the data showed.

    Figures from the trade ministry, which will publish confirmed numbers later in the month, had shown department stores’ December sales fell 5.7 percent and discount store sales had been down 5.1 percent on-year.

    The finance ministry data also showed gasoline and diesel sales in volume terms had gained 8.5 percent in January from a year ago, which was the fastest rise in three months and compared to a 4.3 percent rise in December.

    The ministry said in the report that domestic consumption had steadily posted positive growth while production and investment were showing signs of improvement. However, it noted that external risks to the economy were increased by slowing Chinese growth, geopolitical risks sparked by a rocket launch from North Korea on Sunday, falling oil prices, and jitters stemming from the direction of U.S. monetary policy.

     

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  • Korean department stores offer instant tax refunds to tourist

    Korean department stores offer instant tax refunds to tourist

    South Korean department stores will start offering instant tax refund services to foreign customers from this month as part of an effort to boost sales.

    Under the new program, foreigners can buy products without paying the mandatory 10 per cent value-added tax (VAT) if the item costs 30,000-200,000 won (US$25-166), observers said. Each person can be exempt from VAT for up to the first 1 million won in purchases. Products that cost more than 200,000 won require the buyer to pay the VAT and get a refund later on.

    Seoul announced last year that it would implement changes to the way all local tax-free shops operate in 2016 by making it easier for tourists to spend in the country without the need to hold onto purchase receipts that must be shown at departure to get tax refunds.

    Lotte Department Store, South Korea’s No. 1 luxury retailer, said the instant tax refund will be given at its main Sogong-dong flagship store in downtown Seoul.

    Shinsegae Department Store said its main store in Jung-gu will offer the service to customers, while Hyundai Department Store plans to give immediate tax refunds at its main Apgujeong store and its Coex outlet in southern Seoul.

    Department stores said they picked the stores because they are the most frequented by foreign visitors, with more stores to be added later.

    “Foreign shoppers can buy products minus the 10 per cent VAT so there is no need to keep tabs on receipts or show the product they purchased at the airport when they leave the country,” a Lotte official said. “This can greatly reduce the hassle at airports and should fuel sales at our store.”

    In addition, local department stores said they will kick off promotion sales to attract Chinese tourists who are expected to arrive in large numbers during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday. The traditional holiday runs from February 3 through February 13 this year.

    Lotte said it will give 50,000 won discounts for purchases exceeding 1 million won, with gift cards equal to 5 per cent of the purchase of the total to be given if the total tops 10 million won. Shinsegae said it too will give upwards of 30 per cent discounts and gifts to foreign tourists that buy items at its stores in February. The retailers said that to get the benefits the shopper needs to show his or her passport when making the purchase.

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