Lotte's Record-Breaking 'Korea Sale Festa'... 8 Distribution Affiliates with 2 Trillion Won in Volume

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Lotte is participating in the 2020 Korea Sale Festa with the themes of ‘coexistence’ and ‘sharing’.

Lotte announced that its eight retail affiliates (Lotte Department Store, Lotte Mart, Lotte Super, Lotte ON, Lotte Home Shopping, Lotte Hi-Mart, 7-Eleven, LOHB’s) will participate in the Korea Sale Festa, Korea’s representative sale festival, held for 15 days from November 1 to 15.

Lotte leveraged the strengths of its online and offline retail affiliates, which are at the forefront of customer consumption activities such as department stores, marts, and supermarkets. With the prolonged domestic consumption downturn, small and medium-sized partner companies possessing quality products but struggling to find sales channels and suffering financial difficulties, as well as farmers and fishermen facing difficulties in sales channels due to the inability to hold local festivals amid prolonged social distancing, were placed at the center of this event.

The volume Lotte is mobilizing for this Korea Sale Festa is the largest ever, amounting to about 2 trillion KRW in sales.

First, major affiliates such as Lotte Department Store and Lotte Home Shopping will prioritize purchasing 25 billion KRW worth of inventory products from excellent domestic partner companies in fashion apparel, accessories, and living goods to prepare a ‘Coexistence Sharing Special Exhibition’ and sell popular products from small and medium partners through online and offline channels.

Lotte expects this event to serve as a catalyst to alleviate the severe cash flow stagnation faced by small and medium enterprises. In fact, looking at the inventory holding ratio of major partners of Lotte Department Store this year, it increased by 25-30% compared to the same period last year, indicating severe financial difficulties.

For example, Lotte Department Store is holding the largest ‘Outlet Mega Sale’ event with about 300 brands participating at 20 outlet stores nationwide; Lotte Mart is running a brand promotion offering up to 50% discounts on home furnishing products such as kitchen interiors; and Lotte Hi-Mart is conducting weekly relay special sales events for small and medium-sized brand home kitchen appliances.

Additionally, based on non-face-to-face methods, Lotte is collaborating with major local governments such as Gangwon Province and Gyeongbuk Province to hold ‘regional economic revitalization’ events. Lotte ON is running the ‘Power of Gangwon! Popular Food Expo,’ offering discounts on over 30 agricultural specialty products such as dried pollack and napa cabbage from Gangwon Province; Lotte Home Shopping operates an online specialty store for local fresh products with the ‘Korea Specialty Products Expo’; and Lotte Super, in joint planning with local governments, is holding the ‘Our Agricultural Products Expo’ selling seasonal fruits and vegetables at special prices.

A representative from Lotte Retail Business Unit (BU) said, “This Korea Sale Festa will be held on an unprecedented scale, along with the 41st anniversary event of Lotte Shopping, the ‘Luxury Brand Expo’ jointly conducted by Lotte Duty Free, Lotte ON, and Lotte Department Store, and simultaneous online and offline sales at Hi-Mart. We will strive to make this an online and offline coexistence sharing festa where Lotte Shopping, domestic retailers, manufacturers, and producers can all enjoy together.”