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SINGAPORE. Lotte Duty Free is to make its retailing debut at Singapore Changi Airport with a 80sq m Korean speciality store, located in Terminal 2.
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The contract was awarded as a stand-alone speciality store concession by Changi Airport Group, and the tenancy begins on 1 May. It will sell Korean items including ginseng and associated products.
Powerful South Korean travel retailer Lotte has made no secret of its ambitions to internationalise from its home base, its stated aim being to rank among the world’s top three global operators by 2018.
Lotte has bid aggressively over the years for a number of high-profile duty free concessions, including at Changi, where it placed a blockbuster bid for the liquor & tobacco duty free contract in 2007. Then, DFS Group narrowly retained the business after one of the toughest, tensest bidding contests in industry history – after Lotte had offered the highest guarantee among the bidders.
As reported, last week Lotte opened only its second overseas store, at Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Indonesia. That move was followed shortly after by the shock announcement of the retirement of long-time Lotte Duty Free President & CEO YS Choi, a key influence on the retailer’s development for over 30 years.
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Lotte operates an acclaimed business at Incheon International, but is highly ambitious about expanding beyond Korea |
