The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Despite improvements across South Korea’s key economic indices, Lotte Group’s retail unit’s profits continue to slump, The Korea Times reports. During the third quarter of its fiscal year, Lotte Shopping reported operating profit reached 28.9 billion won ($24.4 million), down 74 percent year-on-year, a recent filing revealed.
While local retail competitors, like department store giant Shinsegae, forged alliances and made acquisitions to boost digital capabilities amid the pandemic, Lotte has lagged in the country’s e-commerce race. In February, Cho Young-je, chief executive of Lotte Shopping’s e-commerce business division, resigned in response to the company’s struggles to grow its online presence.
New openings, such as a department store in Gyeonggi Province’s Dongtan and an outlet in Uiwang, have drawn crowds due to extensive marketing investments. But analysts told The Korea Times that new physical spaces are unlikely to help the company boost profits in its fourth quarter.
Learn more:
ADVERTISEMENT
A Guide to South Korea’s Booming E-Commerce Market
The pandemic set off an online shopping frenzy in what was already one of the world’s most digitally savvy countries. Here’s what brands need to know.
Local streetwear brands, festivals and stores selling major global labels remain relatively small but the country’s community of hypebeasts and sneakerheads is growing fast.
This week’s round-up of global markets fashion business news also features Senegalese investors, an Indian menswear giant and workers’ rights in Myanmar.
Though e-commerce reshaped retailing in the US and Europe even before the pandemic, a confluence of economic, financial and logistical circumstances kept the South American nation insulated from the trend until later.
This week’s round-up of global markets fashion business news also features Korean shopping app Ably, Kenya’s second-hand clothing trade and the EU’s bid to curb forced labour in Chinese cotton.