"Watermelon with Few Seeds Released"... Lotte Mart Collaborates with Farmers to Launch New Variety

Improving Cultivation Stability and Enhancing Sweetness and Texture

Lotte Mart announced on the 19th that it will launch new watermelon varieties that satisfy both customers and farmers. This initiative aims to address ongoing complaints about watermelons, such as "too many seeds," "mealy texture," and "thick rind."

First, Lotte Mart exclusively launched two offline varieties: the "Seed-Reduced Black Watermelon" and the "Seedless Green Watermelon." These new seed-reduced watermelon varieties were introduced to resolve customer dissatisfaction caused by numerous seeds or thick rinds. Generally, seed-reduced watermelons have thick rinds and fewer seeds, which provide excellent heat and water resistance, preventing the flesh from softening easily during heatwaves and heavy rains. The two products introduced this time maintain the heat-resistant advantages of seed-reduced watermelons while improving the rind to be thinner.

Additionally, Lotte Mart is preparing to launch the upgraded "Black Winner 2 (tentative name)" watermelon, an enhanced version of its flagship product, the "Black Winner" watermelon. The Black Winner watermelon is a domestically developed new variety created through a three-party collaboration model five years ago, characterized by a thin rind and crisp texture.

However, the Black Winner watermelon has a drawback of being sensitive to cold, as it is planted in January and harvested in April, resulting in slow growth and reduced marketability. To address this, Lotte Mart conducted research with seed companies for about three years and developed the Black Winner 2 watermelon, which is cold-resistant while improving sweetness and texture.

Before introducing the Black Winner 2 watermelon to all stores, Lotte Mart conducted a pilot operation over the past two weeks with 10 tons of Black Winner 2 watermelons grown in three greenhouses in Wanju, Jeollabuk-do. The product was sold out at more than 20 stores. Based on this successful pilot, Lotte Mart plans to increase the official supply of Black Winner 2 watermelons, doubling the number of pilot stores next year and launching it in all stores by 2026.

Since 2021, Lotte Mart has been collaborating in a three-party partnership with seed companies and excellent local farms for three years, from seed discovery to contract farming with outstanding farms and in-store sales, to introduce new varieties. Through the introduction of these new watermelon varieties, Lotte Mart expects to improve customer satisfaction and contribute to the stability of summer farming.

Shin Hansol, Product Planner (MD) of the Fruit Team at Lotte Mart & Super, said, “We are conducting various considerations and tests to provide watermelons that satisfy not only taste but also customers’ detailed preferences. Based on a new model of ‘four-party collaboration,’ which adds diverse customer opinions to the existing ‘three-party collaboration’ involving Lotte Mart, seed companies, and farmers, we will strive to present the best watermelons.”