Lotte Mart and Kakao Sign Strategic Business Agreement
Partnership to Strengthen Competitiveness in Online Grocery Shopping
Lotte Mart ZETTA to Launch Service on Kakao Shopping This Year
Lotte Mart is joining hands with Kakao to target the online grocery shopping market.
On the 27th, Lotte Mart announced that it had signed a strategic memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Kakao to strengthen competitiveness in online grocery shopping. Through this agreement, Lotte Mart's online grocery platform "Lotte Mart ZETTA" will launch an online grocery shopping service within Kakao Shopping this year.
Cha Ucheol, CEO of Lotte Mart & Super (right), and Jung Sina, CEO of Kakao, are posing for a commemorative photo after signing the "Lotte Mart-Kakao Strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to Strengthen Online Grocery Shopping Competitiveness" at Kakao Pangyo Ajit in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Photo provided by Lotte Mart
Lotte Mart will expand its online shopping infrastructure so that customers can conveniently use Lotte Mart through major channels such as the KakaoTalk Shopping tab. In particular, starting with the opening of the ZETTA Smart Center Busan this year, the company will introduce early-morning delivery and daytime delivery in two-hour time slots in the Busan and Gyeongnam regions, and plans to expand the service area to the Seoul metropolitan area in the future.
In this collaboration, Lotte Mart will be responsible for product sourcing and service operations, which are at the core of grocery shopping services. In particular, it will directly handle the entire process from order processing and logistics to delivery until products arrive at customers' doorsteps, providing a stable online grocery shopping service. Lotte Mart also plans to leverage its differentiated grocery capabilities to deliver the same fresh food items from its offline stores through Kakao Shopping.
The two companies will continue to cooperate in creating a shopping environment that connects online and offline channels. They will jointly work on screen layouts designed for user convenience and the development of new features, and will also plan marketing and promotions to boost service usage.
Jung Sinha, CEO of Kakao, said, "This partnership will be an important opportunity to extend the KakaoTalk-based commerce experience into everyday grocery shopping, including fresh food and daily necessities," adding, "We will continue to strengthen our competitiveness in delivery and products so that users can receive the items they need in daily life more quickly and conveniently, and we will expand Kakao's commerce ecosystem through collaboration with various partners."
Cha Ucheol, CEO of Lotte Mart & Super, said, "By adding Kakao's convenience to the fresh food competitiveness that Lotte Mart has built up, we aim to become a 'grocery shopping partner' that is part of our customers' daily lives and set a new standard for online grocery shopping," emphasizing, "Going forward, we will create an integrated shopping environment that customers can use most comfortably without boundaries between online and offline through our grocery capabilities and collaboration with various partners, and we will become a leading player in the grocery market."
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