Shin Dong-bin Meets with Bernard Arnault, Chairman of Louis Vuitton, 'For a Reason'

About 1 Hour on the 20th at Jamsil Lotte World Tower
Eldest Son Shin Yuyeol, Executive Director of Lotte Chemical, Also Accompanied

Lotte Chairman Shin Dong-bin is seen conversing with Bernard Arnault, Chairman of LVMH Group, on the afternoon of the 20th at Lotte Avenuel in Jamsil, Songpa-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Reader].

Shin Dong-bin, Chairman of Lotte, met with Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO of LVMH, the world's largest luxury group, who visited Korea on the 20th, to discuss cooperation plans.

According to the distribution industry on the 20th, Chairman Shin welcomed Chairman Arnault at Lotte World Tower in Songpa-gu, Seoul, around 3:30 p.m. that day and personally attended to LVMH group-operated stores such as Louis Vuitton at Jamsil Avenue L. The meeting was held in a warm atmosphere throughout, not only at the LVMH store inside Jamsil Avenue L but also at the Tiffany & Co. store located across the street in Lotte Department Store Jamsil branch. Kim Sang-hyun, Vice Chairman and General Representative of Lotte Distribution HQ, and Jung Joon-ho, CEO of Lotte Department Store, accompanied the meeting, and Shin Yoo-yeol, Executive Director of Lotte Chemical and eldest son of Chairman Shin, was also present. Chairman Shin and Chairman Arnault are also known to have discussed future cooperation plans.

Earlier that day, Chairman Arnault visited Lotte Department Store Avenue L in Jung-gu, Seoul, Lotte Duty Free Myeongdong main store, and Shinsegae Department Store main store to tour LVMH stores. Jung Joon-ho, CEO of Lotte Department Store, and Son Young-sik, CEO of Shinsegae, accompanied him respectively. Chairman Arnault then stopped by the 'Dior Seongsu' pop-up store in Seongdong-gu before heading to Lotte World Tower.

During his 3-day, 2-night visit to Korea, Chairman Arnault is also scheduled to meet with Lee Boo-jin, President of Hotel Shilla, Jung Yoo-kyung, General President of Shinsegae, and Kim Hyung-jong, CEO of Hyundai Department Store. He is also expected to review the first domestic Louis Vuitton fashion show to be held in Seoul next month.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Chairman Arnault has regularly visited Korea every year from 2016 until 2019, before the spread of COVID-19, maintaining meetings with major CEOs in the distribution sector. Given the rapid growth of the domestic luxury market during the COVID-19 period, the industry expects discussions on attracting new stores and additional investments in domestic department stores and duty-free shops during this visit. Due to the major luxury brand policy limiting the number of stores by region, competition among department stores to attract luxury brands is fierce. Additionally, duty-free shops are implementing a policy of gradual withdrawal from downtown duty-free shops and expansion of airport duty-free shops, led by Louis Vuitton, so the calculations of the distribution sector welcoming Chairman Arnault vary. Industry analysts interpret Chairman Shin's long personal attendance on this day as a strong effort to expand LVMH stores in department stores and maintain and attract additional downtown duty-free shops.

Chairman Arnault is the head of LVMH, which owns brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, Fendi, Celine, Tiffany & Co., and Mo?t & Chandon, and is also called the 'Luxury President.' At the end of last year, he ranked first in the Bloomberg billionaire index with a net worth of $170.8 billion (approximately 223 trillion KRW), making him the richest person in the world. This visit is his first to Korea in 3 years and 5 months since 2019. Delphine Arnault, Chairman Arnault's daughter and CEO of Christian Dior, accompanied him on this trip.