As more foreigners visit Korea, January sales at the three domestic department store companies (Shinsegae, Lotte, Hyundai Department Store) all increased.
Shinsegae Department Store said on the 12th that foreign customer sales last month reached 90 billion won, setting a record high. Last year's annual foreign customer sales exceeded 600 billion won, up 20% from the previous year, marking the largest ever scale.
Foreign customer sales expanded mainly at key flagship stores such as the Myeongdong main store and the Gangnam store in Seoul, and Centum City in Busan. In particular, at the main store, last year's foreign customer sales more than doubled from the previous year.
A Shinsegae official said, "Shinsegae Square drew attention as a tourist attraction during the Christmas season with K-pop artist videos, and the luxury strength of the country's largest Hermès store and the world's largest Louis Vuitton store attracted demand from Chinese and Japanese tourists."
Lotte Department Store also saw an increase in foreign customer sales. Last month's foreign customer sales rose 90% from a year earlier. For the full year last year, sales increased 29% to 734.8 billion won, hitting a record high. Key stores such as the Myeongdong main store and the Jamsil store in Seoul led the performance.
Hyundai Department Store likewise posted higher foreign customer sales at The Hyundai Seoul in Yeouido and the Pangyo store in Gyeonggi. Last month, foreign customer sales at the two stores rose about 50% from a year earlier. Last year, foreign customer sales across all stores were about 700 billion won, up 25% from the previous year.
Buoyed by demand from foreign tourists, the department store industry managed to improve results despite sluggish domestic consumption. Shinsegae Department Store's operating profit last year was 406.1 billion won, up 0.4% from the previous year. Lotte Department Store's operating profit rose 27.7% to 504.2 billion won, and Hyundai Department Store recorded 393.5 billion won, up 9.6%.