Seoul, South Korea – As South Korea grapples with prolonged high inflation and a deepening economic downturn, domestic retailers are turning their sights overseas to seek new growth opportunities.

Lotte Department Store is leading the charge with its new complex shopping mall brand, Time Villas, targeting Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, for expansion. Following the successful launch of Lotte Mall Weslake Hanoi in 2023, the company is aiming to increase its overseas revenue to 20% of total sales within a few years. In the first three quarters of last year, Lotte Shopping’s overseas business (department stores and supermarkets) recorded a 4.7% increase in sales to 1.21 trillion won ($900 million).

Meanwhile, Shinsegae Group is expanding its overseas presence through its discount store chain, E-mart, and private-brand (PB) store, No Brand. E-mart currently operates five franchise stores in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and plans to increase this number to 15 by 2030. In Laos, E-mart entered the market in February 2022 and opened its first No Brand store in Vientiane in December of the same year. The company aims to have 20 E-mart and 70 No Brand stores in Laos within a decade.

Shinsegae Department Store is also tapping into the Laotian market with its off-price retail brand, Factory Store. The first Factory Store is set to open at the Kokok Mega Mall in Vientiane in the first half of this year, featuring a wide range of K-fashion and K-beauty products. The company plans to expand the number of Factory Stores in Laos to 10 within ten years.

Convenience stores are also joining the overseas expansion. GS Retail, the operator of GS25 convenience stores, reported a 60-fold increase in exports to over 30 countries, including Asia, North America, and Europe, since 2017. The company is aiming to exceed $10 million in exports this year. GS25 plans to expand its store network in Vietnam to over 500 and in Mongolia to over 500 this year.

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