Lotte Department Store Courts Global Customers with Jennie While Reshaping Its Workforce

[Financial News] Lotte Department Store has named singer Jennie (JENNIE) its brand ambassador as it seeks to strengthen its brand competitiveness in global markets. With its department store business on a growth trajectory, the company is changing both its brand image and workforce structure by appointing an advertising model for the first time in about 10 years and implementing a voluntary retirement program.
According to industry sources on the 30th, Lotte Department Store selected Jennie, a member of BLACKPINK, as its brand ambassador. The company plans to carry out various brand marketing campaigns with Jennie over the next year. This is the first time in about 10 years that Lotte Department Store has appointed an advertising model, following actress Shin Min-a's yearlong stint as its promotional model in 2017.
The appointment reflects Lotte Department Store's ambition to strengthen its brand competitiveness in global markets and establish itself as a world-class department store. Having expanded its business base through overseas stores, the company plans to collaborate with Jennie, who is well-known not only in Asia but also in Europe and North America, to promote its brand value to customers worldwide.
Lotte Department Store is currently the only company in Korea's department store industry to operate overseas stores. As of the first half of this year, it had four overseas locations. After opening Lotte Mall Jakarta in Indonesia in 2013, the company opened Lotte Department Store Hanoi Store in 2014 and Ho Chi Minh City Store in 2015. In 2023, it opened Lotte Mall West Lake Hanoi in Vietnam.
Performance at the overseas stores has also been growing. Lotte Department Store's overseas store sales totaled 71.1 billion won in the first half of this year, up 17.5% from 60.5 billion won a year earlier. Operating profit rose 284.6% over the same period, from 3.9 billion won to 15 billion won. Driven by this performance, Lotte Department Store's total sales and operating profit for the first half reached 1.7635 trillion won and 310.9 billion won, respectively, up 8.7% and 59.4% from a year earlier.
A Lotte Department Store official said, "Our overseas stores are performing well as we actively invest in them and apply our Korean pop-up store operating methods locally."
While strengthening its brand competitiveness externally, the company is also reshaping its workforce internally. Lotte Department Store hired entry-level employees for sales, merchandising and marketing positions in the first half of this year, and plans to recruit for sales positions in the second half as well. At the same time, it has been accepting voluntary retirement applications from employees with at least 20 years of service since the 21st. The company explained that this is its second voluntary retirement program since the first was introduced in 2021, and that it is intended to establish a workforce foundation for sustainable growth.
Industry observers are paying attention to Lotte Department Store's decision to appoint Jennie as its advertising model while its overseas business is expanding, even as it conducts both hiring and voluntary retirement programs. The moves are seen as an effort to promote the brand to global customers while reorganizing the company in line with its business growth.
Lotte Department Store plans to expand its overseas business and secure new growth drivers to establish a foundation for sustainable growth. Jung Hyun-seok, CEO of Lotte Department Store, said, "We aim to further sharpen Lotte Department Store's distinct presence in the global retail market" and added, "Building on our differentiated brand experience, we will become a global retail brand that draws the world's attention."
[email protected] Jang Yu-ha Reporter