Department Store Industry to Advance Payments to Partners Ahead of Seollal Holiday

Department store industry is making early payments of sales proceeds to partner companies ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. This is to ease the financial burden caused by temporary increases in expenses such as bonus payments.

According to the industry on the 8th, Lotte Department Store will pay approximately 400 billion KRW in sales proceeds, originally scheduled for the end of this month, 10 days earlier on the 20th to about 3,600 partner companies. This decision is aimed at helping smooth financial operations, considering that many partners feel financial strain due to temporary expense increases like bonus payments during the holidays.

Additionally, this year, the focus is on strengthening communication with partner companies and expanding practical benefits needed by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). For example, the ‘Coffee Truck’ event, which received great responses last year before Chuseok when Lotte Department Store buyers personally visited about 60 excellent partner companies in the metropolitan area to provide coffee and other beverages, will be expanded to regional areas this year.

Moreover, new initiatives such as ‘L-tab,’ which supports partner companies’ research and development expenses to launch collaborative products, and the ‘Rural Co-prosperity Program’ supporting the growth of Korea’s rural areas, will be introduced. ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) consulting, which supports education necessary for ESG management and certification, will also be further expanded.

Hyundai Department Store Group will also make early payments of 350 billion KRW to about 14,000 small and medium-sized partner companies ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. Hyundai plans to pay the proceeds on the 18th, up to 13 days earlier than the originally scheduled payment date, before the Lunar New Year holiday.

The SMEs receiving early payments this time include about 5,000 companies trading with Hyundai Department Store and about 9,000 companies trading with 12 affiliates such as Hyundai Home Shopping, Hyundai Green Food, Handsome, Hyundai Livart, Hyundai Department Store Duty Free, Hyundai L&C, and Hyundai Easywell. Hyundai also plans to promote support programs for coexistence with small and medium-sized partners.

A Hyundai Department Store Group official said, “We hope this early payment before the holiday, when financial demand is concentrated, can help reduce the financial burden of small and medium-sized partners even a little,” adding, “We will continue to promote various support programs for coexistence with small and medium-sized partners.”

Since 2014, Hyundai Department Store has been operating an interest-free loan system to help the financial management of small and medium-sized partners it trades with. It is operated using an annual fund of 6 billion KRW, with applications opening in mid-next month and payments scheduled to be made collectively in March.

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