SOUTH KOREA. Shinsegae Duty Free has appointed Sinyul Ryu as CEO to lead the duty free business, replacing the highly rated former CEO Son Yung-sik, writes Min Yong Jung*.
Son assumed the reins at Shinsegae Duty Free in January 2017 following Shinsegae’s successful bid to obtain a second downtown duty free store licence in Seoul. He was lauded widely for the successful development of the new Shinsegae Duty Free Gangnam store and for guiding the travel retailer through the most difficult COVID-19 pandemic period.
New CEO Sinyul Ryu headed the Sales Business Unit of Shinsegae Department Store prior to his move into duty free. He joined Shinsegae Department Store in 1989 and has held various senior positions in sales, strategy planning, and business management over the intervening decades. He is regarded as a corporate management expert with over 30 years’ experience in Korea’s ultra-competitive department store market.
He was recognised there for his handling of the COVID-19 crisis. Major stores such as Shinsegae Gangnam outperformed expectations, recording positive year-on-year sales growth despite the pandemic.
The annual senior management shakeup at Shinsegae Department Store Group ran much deeper than the usual round of announcements pre-COVID. The personnel changes no doubt illustrate a desire to bring about change following significant impact to group business this year.
The biggest change came within the department store business – 20% of the total executives will retire next year and over 70% of existing Business Unit Directors.
The number of resignations at the subsidiary level was not as significant as within the department store business. Shinsegae Department Store has six subsidiaries – Shinsegae Duty Free is one of them – with a total of 60 executives. Shinsegae has chosen to switch around some key positions and decrease the number of executives by -5%.
Shinsegae Duty Free is expected to post a positive quarterly operating profit margin for the first time this year in Q4 2020. Lowered rent obligations at Incheon International Airport represent a key reason behind the improved result.
That rent relief will help. So will Ryu’s expertise in corporate management as Shinsegae strives to stay ahead of its peers in Korean duty free.
*Note: Korean national Min Yong Jung, formerly based in London and now in Seoul, is Senior Retail and Commercial Analyst at The Moodie Davitt Report. His appointment in June 2019 was the first of its kind in travel retail media. It marked the creation of the Moodie Davitt Business Intelligence Unit, a new division designed to provide a previously unseen level of research and analysis for the travel retail channel.
Do you have research needs related to the Korean and Asia Pacific travel retail and luxury markets? Min Yong Jung can be contacted at minyong@moodiedavittreport.com
