South Korean retailer Lotte has joined the EMD – European Marketing Distribution trade alliance 'with immediate effect', the Swiss group has announced.
Lotte, which boasts headquarters in Seoul and Tokyo, operates in 30 countries and has a presence in the retail, chemicals, construction, tourism and services. Its core food, beverage and retail business contributes around €20 billion to the €50 billion annual turnover of the group.
Lotte's portfolio also includes the well-known Guylian confectionery brand, from Belgium.
Improved Sourcing
According to EMD, which now encompasses 12 retailers across three continents, the new partnership will enable members to 'source and market interesting product concepts in Asia, while Lotte's purchasing teams will gain new and valuable access to European manufacturers and their goods business'.
Through its partnership with the EMD alliance, Lotte aims to expand its private label product range, which currently makes up 6% of its offerings.
'Successful Collaboration'
"We warmly welcome the new associate member Lotte to our intercontinental alliance and look forward to a successful collaboration," commented Philippe Gruyters, managing director of EMD.
Lotte operates over 1,100 stores across South Korea, Vietnam, and Indonesia, generating an annual turnover of around €12 billion. In South Korea, Lotte is a major player with 60 department stores, 161 hypermarkets, and 400 supermarkets, including one of the world's largest department stores near Seoul, spanning 246,000 square meters.
Lotte also has a joint venture with 7-Eleven, managing nearly 14,000 convenience stores in South Korea.
"We at Lotte are also extremely happy about the business partnership that has now been agreed – EMD was our partner of choice from the very beginning," added Sunghyun Kang, CEO of Lotte Mart and Lotte Super.
