Lotte promotes shared growth with partner firms through practical support
Officials from Korean companies participating in the 2026 Lotte-Korea Brand Expo engage with local buyers during the event held from May 27-29 in Madrid. Courtesy of Lotte Corp.
Lotte Group is carrying out a range of practical measures to promote mutual growth with its partner companies. The group helps ease smaller partners’ financial burden by making payments for supplied goods ahead of major holidays, while supporting their overseas expansion through brand expo events.
According to Lotte, the group has been making early payments to partner companies ahead of Korea’s major holidays every year since 2013, as expenses such as employee bonuses and payments for raw materials tend to pile up before the holidays.
Before this year’s Chuseok holiday last week, Lotte paid 949.5 billion won ($701 million) to over 12,000 partner companies an average of eight days earlier than scheduled. Twenty-seven Lotte companies participated in the program, including Lotte Department Store, Lotte E&C, Lotte Global Logistics and Lotte Mart.
Along with early payments, Lotte has been operating various programs to support partner firms’ sustainable growth.
Lotte operates a 1 trillion won Shared Growth Fund to help reduce their interest burden on loans. The group also introduced Shared Payment System across all of its affiliates in 2018, the first among major Korean conglomerates, allowing partner firms seeking early payment on their receivables to convert them into cash at interest rates comparable to those offered to large companies.
Since 2016, the group has been holding the Lotte Brand Expo to promote products from its Korean partner companies overseas while introducing promising foreign products to Korea. Twenty-two expos have been held so far, attracting more than 1,600 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and generating over $1.2 billion in cumulative export consultations.
In May, Lotte, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency and the Korea Commission for Corporate Partnership jointly hosted the 2026 Lotte-Korea Brand Expo in Madrid. Fifty Korean SMEs held 522 business consultations with about 70 buyers from seven European countries, with the talks covering potential deals worth a combined $33.56 million.
Lotte has also been seeking to broaden opportunities to engage with employees of its partner companies. In March, the group held a concert for 1,300 employees from 340 partner companies. Under the theme "Symphony of Lotte," the concert featured crossover performances combining classical music, popular music and operatic pop. The Ditto Orchestra played classical pieces under conductor Kim Kwang-hyun, followed by performances by violinist Danny Koo and singer Park Ki-young.