Lotte Duty Free, South Korea’s top duty-free operator, said it opened an outlet in central Bangkok on Friday, making its first foray into the key Southeast Asian market.
The shop, located inside entertainment and retail complex Show DC, is only partially operational at the moment, with the grand opening planned for later this year, the company said.
Lotte Duty free shop will start operation with 50 brands on the 2nd and 3rd floors of Show DC, which is 9,354 square meter.
Bangkok city center is approximately 30 minutes drive from Suvarnabhumi Airport and has excellent accessibility for group tourists. Bangkok is the second most visited tourist city in the world by 2015, and it is also the most visited tourist spot for Chinese tourists.
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Show DC is a tourist-specialized building that combines K-pop, fashion, and cosmetics with the theme of Korean Wave entertainment. The Lotte Duty Free Shop created ‘Star Avenue,’ a hallyu cultural experience space at the main entrance of the first floor of the Show DC mall, and exhibited models of hand printing, gifts, and shooting costumes. The mall also has a photo zone that depicts figures and drama scenes. On the second and third floors, there will be about 300 brands of all kinds of products, such as toys, cosmetics, fashion, electronics, liquor and tobacco.
The launch of the Thai duty-free shop underscores Lotte’s push to expand its overseas foothold. Lotte is the third-largest duty-free operator in the world, after Swiss-based Dufry A.G. and DFS of the United States.
The Bangkok store is the second outlet Lotte opened abroad this year following one in Da Nang airport in Vietnam which is scheduled to be in full operation starting in August, according to the company.
Da Nang is one of the most popular holiday destinations among South Koreans.
Lotte Duty Free currently runs seven stores in five countries abroad, including Indonesia, Japan and the U.S.
(Source: Asiae )