Lotte Plans To Open 20 New Outlets In China

The South Korean retailer Lotte has announced that it will focus on the Chinese market in its overseas expansion and it is planning to open 20 new department stores there by 2018.

Lotte Department Store said that it will open 31 new overseas outlets in China, Russia, Indonesia, and Vietnam before 2018, increasing the total number of its overseas stores to 33. At the same time, the company expects to achieve revenues totaling KRW5 trillion from its overseas market by 2018 and the revenue will account for about 20% of the company's total incomes.

Lotte's first department store in China is Intime Lotte located at Wangfujing. The department store, which is jointly owned by the Lotte Group and Zhenjiang Intime Department Store, was opened in August 2008. According to Intime Lotte's financial report for the year ending December 31, 2008, the department store lost CNY102 million during the first months of its operation.