SOUTH KOREA. Shinsegae Duty Free, the Republic’s third-largest travel retailer, posted a -51.4% fall in net sales* year-on-year for the fourth quarter ended 31 December to KRW4,841 billion (US$362,986,070).
But operating profit want from a thumping KRW263 billion (US$192.3 million) loss in Q42022 to a profit of KRW89 billion (US$66.7 million) this time around.
Sales at downtown stores, heavily affected by the well-documented changes to the daigou structure, fell -59%. However, airport shops posted a +10% rise in sales in line with rising passenger volumes and store openings under the new contract.
Encouragingly, airport passenger traffic reached 91% of pre-pandemic 2019 levels in Q4, up from 87% in Q3, 74% in Q2 and just 62% in Q1.
For the full year, net sales fell -44.3% to KRW19,165 billion (US$1.4 billion) but operating profit shot up by KRW813 billion to KRW86.6 billion (US$59.6 million). ✈
* Gross sales means total sales amount printed on customer receipts. Net sales means gross sales – consignment sales + sales commission, recorded on fiscal reports.
