CEO Jeong Junho's Masterpiece 'Time Villas'... Lotte Department Store Starts Shopping Mall Launch

Time Villas Suwon Second Half Strategy Sharing Meeting
Shin Dong-bin Calls for "Need to Strengthen Competitiveness"

Jung Jun-ho, CEO of Lotte Department Store, held a 'Second Half Strategy Sharing Meeting' on the 23rd at Time Villas Suwon in Gyeonggi Province, attended by over 130 executives and employees. This came just four days after the group's second half VCM (Value Creation Meeting, formerly the Presidents' Meeting). On this day, CEO Jung announced plans to expand the group's new complex shopping mall, Time Villas. This aligns with Lotte Chairman Shin Dong-bin's recent emphasis at the second half VCM on the need to 'strengthen the fundamental competitiveness of existing businesses' to enhance corporate value.

Lotte Department Store announced that it held the second half strategy sharing meeting on the morning of the same day at Time Villas Suwon in Gwonseon-gu, Suwon City, Gyeonggi Province. The strategy sharing meeting is held twice a year, in the first and second halves, to discuss ways to enhance the competitiveness of the department store. About 130 people, including key executives and store managers of the department store, attended, including CEO Jung. Lotte Department Store usually holds strategy sharing meetings at its headquarters in Sogong-dong, Seoul, but explained that the venue was unusually changed this time to share the innovative case of Time Villas Suwon.

Exterior view of Time Villas Suwon.
Photo by Lotte Department Store

The meeting began with a presentation by Lee Seung-hee, head of the Shopping Mall Strategy Division, titled 'The History and Future Strategy of Time Villas Suwon Development.' In his presentation, Director Lee said, "We judged that there was a lack of large-scale shopping facilities at the level customers desire compared to the scale and speed of development of the Suwon commercial district, including the 3rd New Town and large corporate complexes, which led us to promote the Time Villas Suwon project." He added, "Time Villas Suwon was developed as a convergence shopping mall combining only the strong elements of department stores and shopping malls, while applying many new concepts such as digital signage and moving logos."

Director Lee also revealed the mid-to-long-term roadmap for the opening of Time Villas Suseong and Time Villas Songdo, along with the grand opening of Time Villas Suwon in the second half of the year. He said, "Time Villas Suseong and Time Villas Songdo, which will be established in Daegu and Incheon respectively, will be developed as landmark-level premium complex shopping malls representing their respective regions." He added, "We are currently collaborating with famous overseas designers to establish design concepts for Time Villas Suseong and Incheon." He continued, "In the future, we plan to expand Time Villas through the renewal of regional hub stores and additional openings, including Suseong and Songdo."

At the meeting, CEO Jung emphasized to the executives and attendees, "Please carry out the mid-to-long-term plans without fail based on the core strategies in the second half of the year," and "I hope you continue to demonstrate the same level of execution power as now." The core strategy he referred to is the smooth landing of Time Villas, the group's new complex shopping mall. Complex shopping malls are currently a competitive area among several major retail conglomerates. They have competitiveness because experiential content in offline stores, which differentiates them from e-commerce, is gaining popularity, and because they can sell products at various price points amid a prolonged economic downturn. Lotte first pre-opened Time Villas Suwon in May and is preparing for the grand opening next month.

Jung Junho, CEO of Lotte Department Store, is attending the 2024 First Half Lotte VCM (Value Creation Meeting, formerly the Executive Meeting) held at Lotte World Tower in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 18th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Before the meeting, CEO Jung reportedly said, "We see shopping malls as the future growth engine of (Lotte Department Store)." This means that instead of merely renewing existing stores, they will evolve them into complex shopping malls to improve profitability. CEO Jung also stated, "Cost reduction is necessary, but we will continue to invest for growth." This means that while short-term controllable costs such as consumables will be reduced, investments for mid-to-long-term growth, such as shopping mall renewals, will continue.

CEO Jung's announcement to strengthen department store competitiveness by making shopping malls a new growth engine aligns with Chairman Shin Dong-bin's directives. At the previous VCM, Chairman Shin ordered the strengthening of the fundamental competitiveness of existing businesses, including the distribution sector, as a management policy for the second half to achieve corporate value enhancement. He also emphasized at the time, "Bold innovation is necessary to respond to changes in customers and the market."

CEO Jung joined through Samsung Group's open recruitment and has worked at Shinsegae Department Store and other Shinsegae Group affiliates, which are competitors of Lotte. He is the first externally recruited CEO of Lotte Shopping.

Meanwhile, besides Lotte Department Store, other Lotte distribution affiliates will also hold second half strategy meetings. Lotte On, the e-commerce platform, will hold a second half workshop at the end of this month attended by executives and team leaders, and Lotte Mart will hold leadership meetings every month attended by the CEO, executives, store managers, and team leaders instead of semi-annual meetings.