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New Lotte Duty Free CEO Hong-Kyun Lee is leading the retailer in what is shaping up as a banner year |
SOUTH KOREA. Lotte Duty Free posted a +14% year-on-year rise in first-quarter sales to KW886 billion won (US$844 million), The Moodie Report can reveal.
Unconfirmed Korean press reports last month speculated sales of KRW880 billion won for the period but the actual performance is even better, representing an all-time high for the country’s leading travel retailer.
Sales were boosted by the opening of Lotte Duty Free’s new retail operation at A.B. Won Pat International Airport, Guam in early January.
Lotte is projecting sales of US$970 million over the lifetime of the ten-year Guam concession (a bullish projection as former concessionaire DFS posted sales of US$34.8 million in the last full financial year reported).
Lotte is running some 2,250sq m of space in Guam, including a number of luxury boutiques under renovation which will open in coming weeks. The Moodie Report will report on the Grand Opening later this month.
Lotte Duty Free is also finalising plans for its opening at Lotte World Tower, first revealed in an interview with former Lotte Duty Free CEO Won-Joon Lee in The Moodie Report Print Edition, May 2013 (click on image below to download interview).
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(Above and below) With its core category offer now in shape, Lotte Duty Free is preparing to open a series of renovated luxury boutiques at A.B. Won Pat International Airport, Guam |
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Lee has since been named President of Lotte Department Store and been replaced at Lotte Duty Free by Hong-Kyun Lee, formerly Senior Executive Director.
The 123-floor, 555 metre-high, skyscraper is located in the giant Lotte World complex in Jamsil, Seoul. In anticipation of the opening, Lotte Duty Free previewed a number of images of the new retail offer (below), via The Moodie Report.
The tower is still under construction although the low-rise business malls around it are expected to open in July this year, a Lotte Duty Free spokesperson told The Moodie Report. The complex will also feature Lotte-branded hotels, cinemas and department stores.
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Lotte landmark: Lotte World will feature one of Asia’s biggest and best travel retail offers |
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(Above and below) A Towering achievement: Mock-ups of Lotte’s look of luxury at the 123-floor, 555 metre high Lotte World Tower |
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