Department stores go all out to attract foreign tourists

Foreign tourists take a K-beauty class at a Lotte Department Store in Seoul, Aug. 3. Courtesy of Lotte Shopping

By Kim Jae-heun

Department stores are stepping up efforts to attract increasing numbers of foreign visitors to boost faltering sales as local households tighten spending amid rising debt and high interest rates, according to retail industry officials, Thursday.

Lotte Shopping, a retail unit of Lotte Group, showed foreign tourist sales at its department store in downtown Seoul's Myeong-dong soared six times between January and July, year-on-year. Its sales in the second quarter of this year there recovered to about 80 percent of pre-pandemic levels.

“We don't know exactly how many foreign tourists have visited our stores recently, but our sales coming from them at our Myeong-dong and Jamsil branches prove a significant increase in the amount of foreigners,” a Lotte Shopping official said. “Chinese still account for the majority but we have also seen increasing numbers of other nationalities shop at our department stores, especially young consumers, thanks to the global popularity of K-pop.”

Lotte Department Store is strengthening its K-fashion category to attract young foreign tourists this year. It opened a number of domestic fashion brand stores such as Ader Error and Mardi Mercredi at its Jamsil branch in May and also Martin Kim at its Myeong-dong branch. This month, the retailer introduced an Anderson Bell store at its Myeong-dong branch. Anderson Bell is a local contemporary brand launched in 2014 and it operates some 150 overseas stores including one at Barneys New York in New York.

“Anderson Bell is enthusiastic in attracting young foreign tourists and it moved its showroom last year from Cheongdam-dong to Anguk-dong, one of the most popular touristic destination. We will continue to expand K-fashion brands at the Myeong-dong branch,” a Lotte Shopping official said.

Another retail giant Shinsegae also saw its sales coming from foreign shoppers at its branch in downtown Seoul's Sogong-dong increase by 460 percent between January and July. Sales to foreign customers at its Centum City in Busan also soared 465 percent. Earlier this year, Shinsegae opened the country's largest young fashion brand space Hyperground at Centum City.

Foreign tourists take a selfie beside a Pokemon character in front of Lotte World Mall in Jamsil, Seoul, May 5. Newsis

“We have duty free shop at our main branch in Sogong-dong and that helped attract a number of foreign tourists. I also heard many tour groups from China have returned relatively recently,” a Shinsegae Department Store official said.

Hyundai Department Store also saw surges in foreign tourist sales at its Gangnam branch near the City Airport Terminal and its Yeouido branch, both in southern Seoul.

Opened in 2021, The Hyundai Seoul store became a popular tourist attraction among young foreign tourists through active social media marketing. As of June the proportion of sales to foreign customers at Hyundai Department Store's Gangnam branch and Yeouido branch reached 16 percent and 12 percent, respectively.