CHINA/SOUTH KOREA. Lotte Duty Free has been voted ‘Brand of the Year 2016, Korea’ in an influential readers’ poll conducted by People’s Daily Online, a major Chinese news publication.
The Seoul-based travel retailer topped the poll, conducted between 26 May and 5 June, for the second year running. Lotte Duty Free headed not only other Korean duty free retailers but all Korean brands in general. The survey featured 75 sectors and 250 brands.
Candidates for ‘Brand of the Year 2016, Korea’ are chosen by People’s Daily Online according to their strong success in China and/or popularity with Chinese tourists.
In a related success, Lotte Duty Free also won first place in the same media’s duty free sector of the ‘14th Brand of the Year Korea’ survey, which targeted Korean customers. The survey (also conducted between 26 May and 5 June) was conducted through online and offline methods, including website voting, SMS and 1:1 interviews.
Lotte Duty Free CEO Jang Sun-wook said: “Being awarded as the top brand in both China and Korea simultaneously gives great encouragement to the efforts Lotte Duty Free has mounted through the years.
“Lotte Duty Free will keep growing as a world-class duty free brand which provides the highest satisfaction for both domestic customers and foreign tourists by providing an even better product and service.”
The awards are a welcome boost to a retailer that has experienced a tough few months, following the controversial loss of its Lotte World Tower Duty Free licence last November, the recent well-publicised raids on group operations, and the suspension of the parent group’s IPO. The results reaffirm Lotte Duty Free’s tremendous popularity with Chinese (and Korean) tourists, underlining its contribution to the Korean economy.
Lotte Duty Free hopes to regain its World Tower licence when new licences are issued later this year. It is also a likely bidder for the Hong Kong International Airport core category tenders, which will be issued in 2016. This month’s double award success will be useful on both counts.
