On ZetaFlex Opening Day... CEO Kang Sung-hyun: "Focusing on Food, Leading Customer Trends"

Fresh Food and Specialty Stores as a Winning Strategy
Next Year's Sales Target Set "Aggressively"
Expansion of Zetaflex Limited to Fewer Than 10 Locations

On the 23rd, Kang Sung-hyun, CEO of Lotte Mart, is touring the Zeta Plex store in Songpa-gu, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] "Discount stores are ultimately about food. It will no longer focus on cheap products but will now lead customer trends."

On the 23rd, Kang Sung-hyun, CEO of Lotte Mart, visited the store on the opening day of 'Zeta Flex.' CEO Kang said, "Rather than being number one in sales, I hope people come and see that there is a food store of this level in Korea," adding, "Our competitor (Emart) is doing well, so I think we still have a long way to go to catch up. I want to play a role in proposing new products."

CEO Kang expressed strong confidence in fresh food. He stated, "We are the best at fresh food," and "We plan to leverage strengths such as delivery within two hours." In fact, CEO Kang toured the store for about 45 minutes focusing on the food section that day. He touched the products displayed in the store himself and immediately ordered improvements on-site. The premium products Lotte Mart introduced this time, such as Hoban Chikso and Full Blood Wagyu, were even photographed by CEO Kang with his smartphone.

The place where CEO Kang stayed the longest was the shampoo and body wash refill station. He said, "Is it cheaper if you use this? I want to see if it works well. Let's try it," and experienced the refill. He did not hesitate to encourage employees he met throughout the store, saying, "Thank you for your hard work." After hearing an explanation about aquaponics, which cultivates fish and crops together for harvest, he praised it, saying, "That's a good idea." At the tea capsule corner, he also expressed the opinion, "I think tea will take over from coffee in the future."

Zeta Flex has a total sales area of 14,214㎡ (about 4,300 pyeong), making it the largest among all Lotte Mart stores. On the basement first floor, various fresh foods can be compared and purchased in one place. It handles more than 30% more products than general large marts, and the display length has also been increased by about 30% compared to the average existing stores. Specialized stores have also been introduced in large numbers. The wine specialty store 'Bottle Bunker,' which occupies 70% of the entire first floor area, sells a total of about 4,000 types of wine. This store is the largest in Korea with 1,322㎡ (about 400 pyeong) and has a tasting tap where you can sample about 80 types of wine. On the second floor of the store, the living specialty store Room by Home Lab presents premium products through collaborations with its own brand (PB), category-specific professional designers, artists, and specialized brands.

Regarding next year's sales target, CEO Kang said, "We should do better than this year," adding, "We set an aggressive goal." About expanding Zeta Flex, he explained, "We will invest in fewer than 10 stores, focusing on stores with sales units exceeding 10 billion KRW and stores that can improve the image of Lotte and Lotte Mart," and "We plan to have about one Bottle Bunker in each main city." Currently, stores in Lotte Mart with monthly sales of about 10 billion KRW include Junggye Branch, Seoul Station Branch, Gumi Branch, and Uiwang Branch.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.