ZetaFlex Success Evaluation, Seoul Station Branch 2 on the 14th
Lotte Mart and Supermarket Emphasize Chemical Integration
Bold Attempts at Online Unification
Endemic Overseas Market Performance Gains Momentum
'Saturated' Domestic Market and Integration Transition Results Support
Kang Seong-hyun, CEO of Lotte Mart and Lotte Super, is driving the "Performance Improvement Round 2" with the keywords renewal, integration, and overseas expansion. Kang, who became CEO of Lotte Mart in 2020, invested in strengthening the foundation during Round 1 by reorganizing the organization amid the COVID-19 situation. After taking on the additional role of CEO of Lotte Super at the end of last year, Kang is now entering Round 2, focusing on enhancing synergy between marts and supers in the second half of this year and strengthening competitiveness in domestic and international markets based on "key content."
Kang Sung-hyun, CEO of Lotte Mart and Supermarket (third from the left), is taking a commemorative photo with employees after participating in the 'Cool Korea Challenge' at the Lotte Mart headquarters in Songpa-gu, Seoul. [Photo by Lotte Mart].
The core keyword for Round 2 is renewal. According to the distribution industry on the 6th, Lotte Mart will renew and reopen the Lotte Mart Seoul Station branch as the second "Zeta Flex" store on the 14th. The first Zeta Flex store, launched in 2021 after remodeling the Jamsil branch, strengthened its product assortment, including groceries that match current trends, under the concept "Everything you want is here." This attracted demand not only from southern Seoul but also from Gyeonggi Province, helping the Jamsil branch secure its position as the top sales store. Lotte Mart plans to present the Seoul Station branch, ranked second in sales, as the second Zeta Flex store to expand demand from northern Seoul as well as foreign customers, who form a significant portion due to the location's characteristics. Kang, who confidently stated at the opening of the first store that "this store will show that Korea has large-scale marts of this level and will be a symbolic store leading customer dietary trends," is personally overseeing the opening schedule of the second store following the first.
The wine specialty store "Bottle Bunker," which has established itself as key content for Lotte Mart, will also be introduced in major domestic and overseas stores to strengthen competitiveness. Domestically, the fourth store will open at the Seoul Station branch, the second Zeta Flex store, following the Jamsil branch (Zeta Flex 1st store), Changwon Jungang branch, and Gwangju Sangmu branch. The first overseas store opened in July at Lotte Mart inside Lotte Mall West Lake Hanoi in Vietnam, marking the start of a full-scale approach to overseas wine demand.
The "chemical integration" transforming marts and supers into "Lotte grocery stores by type" is also a key business emphasized by CEO Kang this year. Since the end of last year, Kang has been driving integrated product sourcing and, in July, boldly integrated online platforms that were competing for market share into Lotte Mart Mall, pursuing cost efficiency. The integration results have already been proven by numbers in the first half of this year, further strengthening Kang's drive. With the visible results of integrated product sourcing between marts and supers, the operating profit of marts reached 29 billion KRW in the first half of this year, a 200.8% increase compared to the same period last year. Supers also turned profitable with an operating profit of 13 billion KRW. Kang plans to put more effort into the project to improve cost of sales through the integration of sourcing organizations for marts and supers.
The overseas market performance, which struggled during the COVID-19 period, is also showing noticeable improvement with the endemic phase, supporting changes that could be burdensome in the saturated domestic market. Lotte Mart, which first entered Vietnam and Indonesia in 2008, currently operates a total of 65 overseas stores, including 15 in Vietnam and 50 in Indonesia. The first half sales of Lotte Mart in Vietnam and Indonesia were 579 billion KRW and 180 billion KRW, respectively, showing increases of 5.7% and 16.0%. Kang plans to showcase key content such as Bottle Bunker in major overseas hub stores and accelerate store expansion focusing on regions with high additional growth potential.
The wine specialty store 'Bottle Bunker,' established as a key content of Lotte Mart [Photo by Lotte Mart].
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