Sale of Small Defect Imported Fruits
At Least 20% Cheaper Than Regular Products
On the 26th, Lotte Mart announced that it will launch a ‘Small but Delicious Imported Fruits’ series in response to the high inflation and high exchange rate period.
This series consists of products with smaller fruit sizes compared to the typically sold imported fruits, but the selling price is reduced by more than 20%, making it a price-stabilizing product. By introducing new product specifications that were not previously operated and expanding purchase volumes, price competitiveness has been enhanced.
Lotte Mart was inspired by the ‘Win-Win Agricultural Products’ that offer B+ grade agricultural products, which are difficult to commercialize due to small size or blemished appearance, at prices lower than regular products, which have received great response from customers during the high inflation period. This year, Lotte Mart introduced a total of about 60 items of Win-Win Agricultural Products, and sales from January to November increased sharply by more than 50% compared to the previous year.
The currently sold Small but Delicious Imported Fruits products include two items: cherries and bananas. These products are popular fruits ranked among the top in sales volume within the imported fruit category. Pilot operations began at some stores on the 5th, and sales started at all Lotte Mart stores from the 19th.
The ‘Small but Delicious Cherry (Chilean origin, pack, 300g)’ is sold for 7,990 KRW. Based on the price per 100g, it is about 25% cheaper than regular Chilean cherries. This product consists of cherries about 24mm in size, approximately 10% smaller than regular cherries. Although the fruit is smaller, the seed size is also smaller, allowing customers to fully enjoy the flavor of the cherry flesh. Lotte Mart identified that Chilean cherries have a high proportion of small-sized fruit and excellent quality based on the harvest conditions, and procured small-sized cherries mainly distributed locally in Chile. In January next year, about 25 tons of ‘Small but Delicious Cherries’ will be imported and discount events will be held.
The ‘Small but Delicious Sweetio Banana (around 720g, Philippine origin)’ is sold exclusively at large marts for 1,990 KRW, which is more than 50% cheaper than regular products. The product consists of a bunch of 3 to 5 bananas. The minimum specification for Sweetio Bananas previously sold by Lotte Mart was about 1.1kg per bunch with 5 to 7 bananas, making this product about 35% smaller.
Kim Min-kyung, MD (Merchandiser) of the Fruit Team at Lotte Mart and Supermarket, said, “With high inflation continuing and the exchange rate rising sharply, increasing the burden on prices, we prepared the ‘Small but Delicious Imported Fruits’ to fulfill the role of large marts as the last line of price defense. We will continue to closely monitor harvest conditions and plan various products to reduce customers’ shopping basket burdens.”
In addition, Lotte Mart is striving to defend prices of imported food by diversifying import origins. Since the 19th, Lotte Mart has been selling Canadian beef, which is priced at least 5% cheaper than U.S. beef. This is because U.S. beef prices have risen about 7% year-on-year due to a decrease in shipment numbers and increased production costs, and prices are expected to rise further due to the high exchange rate. Refrigerated beef, which has a short storage period, is more affected by exchange rates compared to frozen beef. At all Lotte Mart stores, Canadian Prime Chuck Eye Roll and Stew Ribs (each 100g, refrigerated) are sold at 2,820 KRW and 2,388 KRW respectively, with a 40% discount for L.POINT members.
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