Lotte Duty Free held a grand opening ceremony at one of its new Australian stores at Brisbane Airport, today, marking a milestone in the company’s international expansion.

 

As reported in August last year, Lotte Duty Free acquired JR/Duty Free’s business in Australia and New Zealand including stores in the following Australian airports – Brisbane Airport, Melbourne, Darwin and Canberra – as well as one on Swanston Street in downtown Melbourne. It also includes an on-airport store in the capital of New Zealand, Wellington Airport.

 

Lotte Duty Free, the second biggest travel retailer in the world, has an ambition to be the leading operator in Australia and New Zealand by 2023 and to achieve sales of US$200m in the region in its first year.

 

“Australia has demonstrated significant growth of over 10% in incoming Chinese tourists in recent years,” say Lotte.

 

SOLIDIFYING INTERNATIONAL FOOTPRINT

“The ‘2019 Spring Tourism Trend Forecast’ published by Ctrip, the largest online travel agency in China, also states Australia is one of the most favourable international travel destinations for Chinese tourists during the New Year period.”

 

With this launch, Lotte Duty Free now operates in seven countries outside of Korea, including Da Nang and Nha Trang Cam Ran Airport stores in Vietnam. These stores are said to have posted a ‘surplus in the first year of operation’ while Lotte Duty Free’s Tokyo Ginza Downtown Store in Japan has registered a 120% annual sales growth since opening, says Lotte.

 

In his first visit to Australia, Lotte Duty Free CEO Kap Lee stated: “Successfully entering into Oceania is the next step in Lotte Duty Free becoming the world’s number 1 travel retailer and the most influential in the region.

 

“We have almost 40 years of retail excellence that is being introduced to Australia and New Zealand, working side-by-side with our local colleagues to better understand the unique wants and needs of people travelling through the region from all nationalities.”

 

DOWNTOWN AND AIRPORT EXPANSION

Lotte Duty Free insists that it is at the forefront of digital, offering one of the most advanced online retail networks in the industry and with plans to improve its online business in Australia by introducing technology upgrades.

 

Further to its growth strategy, Lotte Duty Free is expanding its downtown business, actively participating in airport concession tenders and accelerating its global expansion to meet its target of international sales of USD 1bn by 2020.

 

Today’s ceremony at Brisbane Airport saw more than 100 VIP guests including Kap Lee (CEO of Lotte Duty Free), Yong-Dok Song (Vice Chairman of Lotte Group), Gert-Jan de Graaff (CEO of Brisbane Airport Corporation), Sangsoo Yoon (Consul-General of the Republic of Korea in Sydney), Suho & Kai (EXO) and Dami Im (Singer-Songwriter).