Captured the Vietnamese Market with K-Grocery... Lotte Mart Hanoi Center Store, 15% Increase in Sales after Renewal

[Financial News] Lotte Mart is solidifying its growth momentum in the Vietnamese retail market based on its grocery specialty store operation capabilities proven in Korea. Lotte Mart, the only domestic distributor to choose a direct entry method rather than a franchise, is evaluated to have successfully integrated Korea's advanced distribution system with Vietnamese consumer trends. Additionally, the renewal with K-Grocery has been successful, leading to an increase in sales.
According to Lotte Mart on the 22nd, Lotte Mart Vietnam, which started with the Ho Chi Minh Nam Saigon store in December 2008 and currently operates 15 stores, recorded sales of 396.5 billion won and an operating profit of 32.6 billion won last year, increasing by 9.3% and 28.9% respectively compared to the previous year. In the first quarter of this year, it continued its solid growth by achieving sales of 116.5 billion won and an operating profit of 12.6 billion won.
This favorable sales performance is the result of focusing on strengthening the store strategy centered on grocery specialty stores to secure competitiveness. In 2023, following the new opening of the Westlake Hanoi store as a grocery specialty store model, four stores including the Hanoi Center Store and Nam Saigon Store were converted into grocery specialty stores. In particular, the Hanoi Center Store, which was renewed in July last year, recorded a 15% increase in sales and a 10% increase in customer numbers over the year, establishing itself as a core store.
The Hanoi Center Store introduced 'Yorihada Kitchen', a specialized space for ready-to-eat foods, with a scale of about 45m, offering over 450 menu items including 70 kinds of K-Food such as tteokbokki, gimbap, and dakgangjeong. After the introduction of 'Yorihada Kitchen', sales of ready-to-eat foods increased by more than 35% compared to the same period last year, and the sales proportion of K-Food reached 40% of total sales.
It also introduced its own bakery brand 'Pungmiso', offering the local representative sandwich Banh Mi, resulting in long queues during lunchtime. After the introduction of 'Pungmiso', bakery sales more than doubled.
In addition, 'Lotte Zone' plays a key role in the entry of K-Food, and popular beauty brands such as 'Mediheal', 'VT', and 'Lilybyred' are also being introduced.
Lotte Mart plans to accelerate the expansion of the Korean-style grocery specialty store model. In Nha Trang, a central-southern tourist city in Vietnam, it is operating two stores, Nha Trang Store and Gold Coast Store, and plans to renew the Nha Trang Store as a local customer-tailored grocery specialty store by the end of this year.
Shin Jubaek, head of Lotte Mart Vietnam Corporation, said, "As a result of meticulously integrating the localization strategy into the grocery specialty store model, we are achieving meaningful results and continuing to grow steadily," and "We will continue to strengthen our influence in the Vietnamese market based on differentiated content and competitiveness such as K-Food and K-Beauty."

wonder@fnnews.com Jeong Sanghee Reporter