Lotte Holds 'Brand Expo' in Mexico... A Foothold for SMEs Entering Latin America

Supporting SMEs' Overseas Expansion
Expo Held in Mexico City Until the 16th

Lotte Group will hold the '2024 Lotte-Korea Brand Expo' in Mexico City from the 13th to the 16th.

The Lotte-Korea Brand Expo is a program organized by Lotte, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), and the Foundation for Cooperation between Large, Medium, Small Enterprises and Agriculture and Fisheries to support domestic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in expanding overseas, providing export consultations and product exhibitions.

Export consultation scene at the Korea Brand Expo in Jakarta B2B export consultation meeting held by Lotte and KOTRA.
[Photo by Lotte]

First held in Thailand in 2018, the expo has become a foothold for SMEs dreaming of overseas expansion through 12 editions. Up to last year, more than 1,300 companies participated, and through about 9,000 export consultations, the cumulative consultation performance reached 700 million USD (approximately 960 billion KRW). Lotte’s distribution and food affiliates also participate, striving to discover and import products and raw materials from local companies.

The 13th edition of the expo is being held for the first time in Mexico, a Latin American country. Mexico established a strategic partnership with Korea in 2005, the first among Latin American countries, and is one of the countries where K-brands are gaining popularity. According to the Korea International Trade Association, the number of Hallyu fan club members reaches 27 million, and many people in Mexico are familiar with Korean culture and products. Mexico has a total population of 120 million, ranking 10th in the world, and the proportion of the population aged 15 to 49 with high purchasing power exceeds half, indicating high market growth potential.

One hundred SMEs in the beauty, fashion, food, and daily necessities sectors are participating in this expo. Among them, 47 companies, expecting success in the Mexican market with products such as mask packs, cleansers, tteokbokki, and gim snacks, will hold one-on-one export consultations with local distributors. Mercado Libre, Mexico’s number one online distribution network, will also participate in the consultation to discuss the export of K-brands to Mexico.

A time for general customers to directly experience the participating companies’ products has also been prepared. During the two-day product promotion event on the 15th and 16th, promotional booths will be set up along with culture shows, cooking classes, beauty consulting, and Korean food experience zones that introduce product usage methods tailored to local trends.

A Lotte Holdings official said, “Lotte affiliates such as home shopping, marts, duty-free shops, and convenience stores are joining forces to help domestic SMEs open overseas sales channels by hosting the Lotte-Korea Brand Expo,” adding, “We plan to continue win-win activities so that excellent SME products can knock on the doors of overseas markets.”

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