SOUTH KOREA. Korea Customs Service announced yesterday that it plans to reveal the winners of the contest for four critical downtown duty free licences on Saturday week, the culmination of an intense multi-billion dollar battle.
“KCS said yesterday that the results will be announced on 14 November,” one of Korea’s leading travel retailers told The Moodie Report this morning.
Noted another: “The Customs authority announced it will hold the evaluation sessions on Friday the 13th and the applicants’ presentation sessions on the 14th [Saturday] while the results will be announced on the Saturday evening.”
Said a third, in a short statement that underlined the significance of the moment, “D-day is coming.”
As first revealed by The Moodie Report the four licences up for renewal are currently held by Lotte Duty Free at its flagship store in Sogong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul and the Lotte World Mall, also in the Korean capital; WalkerHill Duty Free in Seoul; and Shinsegae Duty Free (formerly Paradise Duty Free) in Busan. They all expire in late 2015 as follows:
WalkerHill Duty Free: 16 November
Shinsegae Busan: 15 December
Lotte main store: 22 December
Lotte World: 31 December
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Four licences, plenty of competition; Source: Moodie Research |
Local Korean media reports claimed the weekend timing was an effort to prevent tip-offs to the stock market.
As revealed, four retailers – Lotte Duty Free, SK Networks (WalkerHill Duty Free), Shinsegae Duty Free and Doosan Group – have submitted bids for the operational licenses for three downtown duty free stores in Seoul, while Shinsegae faces unexpected competition from Fashion Group Hyungji.
The stock market sensitivity follows a major incident in July when KCS chose Hanwha to run a new downtown duty free shop in Seoul. Shares in Hanwha Galleria Timeworld Co surged the day before, leading to an investigation over a potential leak.
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Shinsegae Duty Free, formerly Paradise Duty Free, in Busan is the flagship travel retail location for the department store giant. But the company would dearly love a Seoul downtown presence as its applications show. |
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The long-established WalkerHill Duty Free in Seoul invested millions last year in an ambitious refurbishment but still has to mount a defence of its licence |
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(Above and below) Hordes of Chinese shoppers pack the Korean skincare department of Lotte Duty Free’s flagship store in downtown Seoul. Last year 20% of all Chinese arrivals to Korea were generated by Lotte travel and tour operations. |
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(Above and below) Lotte World Mall’s duty free licence is key to attracting more Chinese tourists to the spectacular new Lotte World Tower due to open next year but now the retailer is fighting for its life there |
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