Lotte Duty Free is stepping up promotional activities at its main retail operations in South Korea following Japan’s resolution to reopen visa-free overseas travel, evidence of vaccination or a negative PCR test is still required. This resolution provides new duty-free opportunities either in the domestic duty-free market and in Tokyo, where Lotte has a branch.
On June 10, 2022, Japan reopened tourism, but strict regulations remained. Travelers were required to be part of an organized tour package and there was a daily limit of 50,000 on arrival. As of October 11, there will be no restrictions on arrivals. and Americans will be able to enter the country visa-free, which is expected to increase demand from South Korea. Before covid, more than 60 nationalities could travel to Japan without a visa and stay there for up to 90 days, but the program was suspended due to the pandemic as a component of the country’s strict security measures.
Lotte Duty Free, which owns a 47,400-square-foot branch in Ginza, Japan’s premier grocery shopping district, since 2016, made the decision to actively advertise in Japan in its home market, where year-over-year sales have more than tripled in recent months. Koreans and Chinese were likely to shop in Japan before the pandemic and the company is taking its own measures to make sure the virus revives.
In August 2019, Chinese were the most sensible nationality to visit Japan with over one million arrivals, while Koreans ranked third after Taiwanese. August 2019 to just 170,000 in August.
Lotte Duty Free will offer three-day, two-night circular trips from Korea to Tokyo on Korean Air. The two-person packages come with hotel accommodations and will be awarded to the first 25 consumers to spend more than $4,000 at the retailer’s World Tower. store in Seoul, and through a lottery to five lucky consumers who spend more than $ 500 at one of the points of sale in the company’s center.
Lotte will organize various occasions for local consumers with a focus on Japanese products. As part of an express “live trading” activity called “LDF Live Travel, Love Duty Free,” the retailer, in partnership with NHN Doctortour, will showcase products “with special benefits at moderate prices. “
Several mini promotions will be available until the end of November for domestic consumers planning to travel to Japan. They differ from potential $3. 50 (5,000 Korean won) prizes credited to LDF Pay, a payment platform launched in 2019, on purchases over $1 at downtown duty-free stores, at higher prices.
Larger credits can be earned through sweepstakes through consumers who write reviews about their trips to Japan on the Lotte Duty Free online site. -come, first served base with a 30% discount.
Promotions and small, high-volume giveaways like this are a proven way for the store to drive traffic in its duty-free department store and central Korea. According to Lotte Duty Free, sales in the last quarter rebounded strongly. A spokesperson for the store said: “Despite the higher exchange rate, domestic sales in the last 3 months have increased by 230% compared to the same time last year. We expect the uptrend to continue. “
The trend has been very different in Japan due to the lack of tourist attendance. When Lotte Duty Free first entered the fledgling central Japan market in 2016, the store had ambitious plans to open 4 to five outlets at its Tokyo flagship store in other parts of the country. country. At the time, the company expected sales from those outlets to reach one trillion won (about $700 million) within a decade.
The promotional activity in South Korea is part of a strategy to bring Japan to life and revive the fortunes of Ginza’s Lotte store. Luxury brands cover categories such as watches, jewelry, cosmetics, perfumes, electronics and accessories and come with the beauty and fashion brands K, which were popular with the Chinese who, with a few exceptions, remain largely confined within their borders.
Lotte Duty Free recently opened a store in downtown Sydney, Australia, where it also claims to target sales of one billion Korean won within a decade.