Lotte Mart, the big-box store chain operated by Lotte Shopping Co., is accelerating its global expansion amid growing challenges in South Korea’s offline retail industry.
According to industry sources on Tuesday, Lotte Mart’s overseas sales climbed to 1.5 trillion won ($1.02 billion) in 2024, up 23.7 percent from 1.21 trillion won in 2021. Profitability surged even more dramatically, with overseas operating profit nearly tenfold to 47.8 billion won from 5 billion won over the same period.
The success of Lotte Mart’s global business is largely driven by the rising appeal of Korean food and cultural content that the company effectively integrated into its offline stores. A standout example is the Gandaria City store in Jakarta, Indonesia, which caters primarily to young, affluent consumers and features an in-store deli, an in-house bakery, and its own pizza brand.
A dedicated Korean food section is fueling demand even further, with Korean strawberries selling out quickly despite Southeast Asia’s abundant fruit market. Encouraged by this success, Lotte Mart recently revamped its Kuningan City store as a second grocery-focused location. These key stores reportedly achieved operating profit margins exceeding 10 percent.
Lotte Mart is looking to build on this momentum and is considering franchising its in-house pizza and café brands to expand into other local shopping malls, leveraging Korean food as a key growth driver. Similar strategies, such as enhancing food offerings and experiential content, are also being implemented domestically. But its overseas operations remain more experimental, employing a forward-looking premium strategy backed by the popularity of Korean pop culture.
Lotte Mart’s Southeast Asian business continues to thrive. Since entering Vietnam and Indonesia in 2008, the retailer has expanded to 64 stores – 16 in Vietnam and 48 in Indonesia. It is currently Indonesia’s largest warehouse-style discount retailer and the third-largest supermarket operator.
To strengthen its overseas operations, Lotte Shopping plans to open an international headquarters in the first half of 2025 to oversee its Southeast Asian business. Lotte’s department stores and marts in Vietnam and Indonesia generated 1.61 trillion won in revenue in 2024, a 27.7 percent increase from 1.26 trillion won in 2021, and the company aims to push overseas sales beyond 3 trillion won by 2030.
By Park Hong-ju and Chang Iou-chung
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