Home Appliance Retailer Changes Leadership... A Bold Move to Overcome Crisis

Lotte Hi-Mart, PB Expansion Expected
Electro Land, Product Category Expansion

Nam Chang-hee, the new CEO of Lotte Hi-Mart.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Lotte Hi-Mart and Electron Land have made leadership changes to launch a new-year challenge. Home appliance retailers are facing an unprecedented crisis as demand for home appliances declines due to a decrease in real income and the impact of the global economic downturn. Both companies plan to enhance store efficiency and focus on expanding experiential content.

According to the industry on the 2nd, Nam Chang-hee, the new CEO of Lotte Hi-Mart, plans to improve profitability and solidify the status as the number one specialized electronics company based on over 30 years of direct purchasing distribution experience. CEO Nam joined Lotte Mart in 1992 and served as head of marketing in 2007 and head of product management. He was head of the product division in 2014, head of the grocery division in 2016, head of product planning (MD) division and customer division in 2017. Since 2020, he has served as CEO of Lotte Super.

In particular, since CEO Nam has experience leading the private brand (PB) Only Price at Lotte Mart, it is expected that he will focus on expanding the Hi-Made business. Hi-Made directly handles everything from product development to quality verification, mass production, and operation, making it up to 40% cheaper than general home appliance brands. Starting with 30 items in 2016, it now sells 80 items and about 290 products. Hi-Made’s sales have grown by an average of 25% annually, and sales from January to December last year increased by 28% compared to the previous year.

Small stores, which are cited as a major cause of deficits, will be closed, and the focus will be reorganized around mega stores, which are large-scale stores. According to Lotte Hi-Mart, as of the end of last year, the number of stores was 402, down 25 from 427 in 2021. On the other hand, mega stores have been continuously expanding since the opening of the Jamsil branch in early 2020, and currently, 23 are in operation.

Kim Chansu, the new CEO of Electron Land.

Kim Chan-soo, the new CEO of Electron Land, will expand product categories based on his extensive experience in marketing, sales, and product divisions. CEO Kim joined Samsung Electronics in 1986, gaining experience in business-to-business (B2B) sales and management strategy. He moved to Electron Land in 2010, starting as marketing team leader and holding key internal positions including head of online sales, head of product division, and head of new business division.

Electron Land plans to strengthen its capabilities in non-home appliance products such as meal kits and clothing. They intend to introduce various products to 115 power centers nationwide, which are experiential stores, to broaden customer choices and enhance competitiveness. The online mall is also expanding into fruits, health functional foods, fashion, and beauty, aiming to become a comprehensive mall. CEO Kim emphasized, "We will do our best to revitalize the stagnant home appliance market and lead a new leap forward."

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