Additional reporting by Luke Barras-Hill

Lotte Duty Free plans to bolster its Vietnam footprint with a new duty free downtown store scheduled to open in Da Nang city later this year, TRBusiness can confirm.

Scheduled to open in two stages, the mixed category shop will occupy more than 1,000 sq m of retail space when fully open.

“Vietnam has very good potential; it’s an up-and-coming country,” commented Kim Joon Soo, Senior Vice President and Head of Merchandising HQ at Lotte Duty Free. “We will partially open our Da Nang downtown shop in October. The grand opening will be in December.”

NHA TRANG OPENING

News of the store follows the unveiling of 1,208sq m of duty free space over two stores at Da Nang Airport, as reported in October.

At that time, TRBusiness reported on a possible downtown store opening in Da Nang, as the South Korean travel retailer actively seeks to promote duty free outlets in Vietnam and reviews potential openings in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh and other major cities in Vietnam over the coming years.

In line with that strategy, Lotte is completing final preparations to soft open a mixed category duty free arrival and departure shop at Cam Ranh International Airport close to Nha Trang.

As reported in November, Lotte Duty Free secured a 10-year contract to exclusively operate 1,811sq m of mixed category duty free space at the new terminal – Lotte’s second airport duty free shop [and soon-to-be third outlet in Vietnam – Ed] and seventh overseas.

Sales from the concession are expected to reach KRW700bn ($655m) over the duration of the contract.

“We will enter Nha Trang’s Cam Ranh Airport; now we are renovating the shop,” continued Joon Soo. “Even though it’s a small area to begin, we will partially open the shop.”

Located 35km from Nha Trang, a growing beach holiday destination popular with Chinese, South Korean and Russian tourists, Cam Ranh International Airport is Vietnam’s fourth largest airport.

International airlines serving the airport include China Southern Airlines and Sichuan Airlines along with South Korean carriers Korean Air and Asiana Airlines.

When fully open later this year, Lotte’s new Nha Trang Airport arrival and departure shop will be more than five times larger than the company’s current 330sq m duty free departure shop in Da Nang Airport.

“Nha Trang Airport is a bigger market than Da Nang Airport where we also have a duty free shop,” said Kim. “It’s mostly Chinese passengers there; Nha Trang has more Chinese passengers. Nha Trang also is favoured by Russian tourists.”

As reported in the May Asia Pacific print issue of TRBusiness (available at the upcoming TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition and Conference), Lotte Duty Free’s overseas sales grew by 45% year-on-year to total KRW140bn ($131m) in 2017 – a welcome distraction from troubles on the domestic front.

Its Da Nang Airport store in particular recorded a surplus in its first year of trading, TRBusiness understands.