NTUC FairPrice CEO Vipul Chawla (third from left) and Lotte Shopping CEO Kim Sanghyun (fourth from left) pose after signinig a partnership agreement
Lotte Mart and Lotte Super will launch stores within the outlets of NTUC FairPrice, Singapore’s largest supermarket chain, to sell food products under Lotte’s private labels, Lotte Shopping said on Wednesday.
Under the business partnership agreement signed between Lotte Shopping and NTUC, Lotte Mart and Lotte Super will open shops in NTUC shops in the first half of next year to cook chicken and popular Korean food such as kimbap and tteokbokki on the spot and sell them under its private brand.
NTUC operates 161 supermarkets and 184 convenience stores in Singapore.
Kimbap, also called gimbap, is a seaweed-wrapped rice roll with various vegetables and marinated meat. Tteokbokki is a hot and chilly rice cake and popular street food in Korea.
Lotte has been exporting PB products to 12 countries, including Vietnam, Mongolia and Indonesia as well as Australia.
In Singapore, Lotte Shopping said it is meaningful to open stores within stores. Lotte Shopping controls the hypermarket and supermarket chains Lotte Mart and Lotte Super.
“Now we are entering Singapore, we will promote K-food in Southeast Asia and expand our PB food exports to various regions such as North America and Europe,” Kim Sanghyun, chief executive of Lotte Shopping Co., said at the signing ceremony.
Kim has a deep understanding of the retail market in Singapore and other parts of Southeast Asia. Before joining Lotte, he had worked at Hong Kong-based DFI Retail Group and a Singaporean retail company.
In 2023, revenue at Lotte Mart and Lotte Super together shrank 4.6% to 5.6 trillion won ($4.2 billion) from the year prior, hit by the rise of e-commerce players such as Coupang Inc. They also failed to catch up with new consumption trends.
Its bigger rival E-Mart Inc. has launched its low-budget house label No Brand in 19 foreign countries and operates No Brand stores there. At the end of this year, it will open its first No Brand outlet in Laos.
South Korean convenience stores are also following in the footsteps of domestic supermarket chains to grow beyond the stagnant domestic retail market.
CU has exported its PB food products, including instant noodle ramyun and snacks to some 20 countries, including the US, UK and China. In 2024, it targets $10 million in exports.
GS25 also exports 700 PB products to 33 countries.
By Hyun-Jin Ra
Raraland@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article
