SOUTH KOREA. The woes of Korean travel retailers continued in October, with total sales (excluding inflight) dropping -6.94% month-on-month to KRW1,111,199,369,778 (US$779.7 million), according to newly released Korea Duty Free Association figures (see tables and charts below).
This was despite a +2.89% increase in the number of shoppers to 2,567,163, indicating that average spend continues to decline.
Martial law fiasco
“The Korean duty-free business is in extreme stagnation and suffering a serious downturn. It will take time to recover,” a senior Korean travel retail executive told The Moodie Davitt Report.
“In the meantime the big companies are showing deepenining deficits and have gloomy prospects over the next year. It is a time of struggle for all of them.”
The source also said South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s catastrophic on/off attempt to introduce martial law this week and the uncertaintly surrounding his subsequent survival of an impeachment vote today (7 December) may adversely affect the travel retail and tourism sectors.
Sales to foreigners represented 76.4% of the total, reaching KRW849,227,832,115 (US$663.6 million), down -7.8% over September on a customer base that actually rose almost +6.3% to 902,730.
Downtown duty-free sales, historically crucial in terms of the Chinese business, fell +10% month-on-month to KRW850,195,290,469 (US$596.5 million) despite customer numbers edging +0.7% ahead.
Note: For a comprehensive evaluation of the reseller business entited ‘The past, present and future of the South Korean duty-free industry’, click here. ✈
