Lotte Department Store Sees Lunar New Year Boom... Inbound Foreign Sales Up 120% Year-on-Year

Sales to Greater China Customers Soar 260%... "All-Time High"
Main Store Sees K-Fashion Sales to Foreign Customers Jump 38-Fold
Cruise Arrivals Drive Holiday Boost in Busan Region
Busan Main Store and Lotte Mall Dongbusan Also Post Strong Sales

Lotte Department Store announced on February 22 that sales to inbound foreign visitors from February 13, when it launched its Lunar New Year promotion, through February 18 increased by 120% compared with the same Lunar New Year period a year earlier.

During this period, sales to customers from Greater China, including China and Taiwan, grew by 260%, marking the best Lunar New Year performance on record. Lotte Department Store analyzed that sales rose as the overall number of inbound foreign tourists increased, driven both by this year’s Lunar New Year holiday stretching to a maximum of nine days and by additional demand from travelers choosing to depart earlier in a dispersed manner to avoid congestion during the holiday.

Lotte Department Store Main Branch. Provided by Lotte Department Store.

The main branch of Lotte Department Store in Sogong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, a leading shopping destination for foreign tourists, recorded a 180% year-on-year increase in foreign-customer sales during the period. In particular, centered on “Kinetic Ground,” a K-fashion specialty zone newly introduced last year, K-fashion sales to foreign customers expanded to about 38 times the level of the previous year. Among Greater China customers, sales in the sports and outdoor category rose by 255%, while foreign-customer sales in the beauty category also posted a growth rate of 80%.

At Lotte Town Jamsil, foreign-customer sales increased by 80%, and foreign-customer food and beverage (F&B) sales at Lotte World Mall grew by 85%. During the Lunar New Year holiday, more than 10,000 cruise tourists arrived at Busan Port, bringing vitality to the local commercial district. At the Busan main branch of Lotte Department Store, foreign-customer sales jumped by 190%, and luxury sales to Chinese customers in particular surged by more than 300%. Foreign-customer sales at Lotte Mall Dongbusan also climbed by 145%.

Park Sangwoo, Head of Marketing at Lotte Department Store, said, “As demand for travel to Korea is rapidly increasing along with the spread of K-culture, the inflow of foreign customers is clearly on the rise. In response, we strengthened Lunar New Year-focused promotions and customer-experience-centered marketing, which led to meaningful results.” He added, “We will continue to expand tailored content and benefits that reflect foreign tourists’ shopping patterns and trends, and enhance our competitiveness as a leading global shopping platform representing Korea.”