SOUTH KOREA. Lotte Duty Free will begin the second stage of its sale of undepleted duty free inventory tomorrow, 1 July.
As reported, the travel retailer began divesting some KRW20 billion (US$16.5 million) of unsold stock through alternative local channels on 23 June. The event was dubbed ‘Maumbang yeok’ (literally ‘mental quarantine’, a modern Korean idiom being used to express the concept of addressing the mental pain caused by COVID-19).
Korea Customs Service (KCS) announced on 29 April that it accepted the local duty free industry’s request to offload unsold stock (after paying import taxes) through a range of channels.
Today, Lotte Duty Free CEO Lee Kap announced phase two of the programme, which will see a much wider range of products sold through ecommerce channel Lotte On from 1 to 10 July. In phase one, over 70% of stock was sold online within an hour of launch, attracting much consumer and media interest. Sales through offline channels such as Lotte Department Store and Lotte outlet stores also flourished, generating sales of KRW3.3 billion (US$2.8 million) in three days.
Thanks to that strong customer support, Lotte Duty Free has prepared ten times more products this time around and is offering larger discounts of up to -70%.
Lotte On will offer 29 brands and over 800 items, including bags, shoes, watches, and beauty devices. Additionally 100 pairs of sunglasses are included for the summer season.
Lotte On is also offering a KRW20,000 (US$16.70) discount voucher and an additional -1% discount to customers who sign up for its paid subscription platform Lotte Oners.
A Lotte Duty Free spokesman said, “We have expanded our brand and product range in this second sale thanks to the great support we received for the domestic sale of duty free goods.”
Lotte Duty Free will launch a promotional video on 1 July to celebrate the second sale. The video contains a message of appreciation for those enduring the frustrations of daily life during the COVID-19 crisis and in particular to frontline medical staff. It is available through social media channels such as YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.
Lotte Duty Free will donate 0.5% of its online sales to support medical staff dedicated to the COVID-19 response.
