What is Lotte Korea & Lotte Korea Review: Features, Pros & Cons, and Best Use Cases

Lotte Group (English: Lotte Co., Ltd., Japanese: ロッテ, Korean: 롯데) is a diversified multinational group company centered in South Korea and Japan. Its business scope covers many fields such as food, department stores, entertainment, finance, and chemicals. It is one of the largest chaebols in South Korea. Its holding company, Lotte Holdings, is located in Japan, but its main business in Japan is only food manufacturing. Most of its overseas business is expanded from South Korea.

About Lotte Group

˙Lotte Group was founded in 1948 in Japan by Japanese-Korean Shigemitsu Takeo (Korean name: Shin Kyuk-ho). It was originally a food manufacturer and later developed in Korea. It has opened hotels and department stores in Korea. Lotte Group owns two professional baseball teams in Japan and Korea, Chiba Lotte Marines and Lotte Giants.

˙The company name Lotte is taken from the name of the heroine "Charlotte" (German: Charlotte) in the novel "The Sorrows of Young Werther" by German writer Goethe.

Business scope and affiliated companies

Lotte Group's main business areas include food, retail, department stores, finance, construction, tourism and entertainment, hotels, trade, petrochemicals and sports.

˙Food : Lotte Confectionery, Lotte Chilsung Beverages, Lotte Sanoka, Lotte Lee, and Lotte Liquor .

˙Retail department stores: Lotte Department Store, Lotte Mart Supermarket .

˙Finance : Lotte Insurance, Lotte Card, Lotte Capital .

˙Tourism and entertainment: Lotte Cinema, Lotte World .

˙Hotels : Lotte Hotel, Lotte Super Tower (Seoul), Lotte Tower Busan .

˙Trade : Lotte International .

˙Petrochemicals : KP Chemical, Lotte Chemical Titan Holdings .

˙Apartment : Lotte Castle high-rise apartment .

Lotte Overseas Business

China:

1. Since entering the Chinese market in 1994, Lotte has maintained the highest level of Korean and outstanding global competitiveness in many fields such as food, retail, tourism, petrochemicals, construction, manufacturing, finance, and services. As of December 2015, the Group's various departments have vigorously developed their businesses in 24 provinces and municipalities in China.

(1) One-stop urban recreation complex

(2) Lotte Mart

(3) Lotte Department Store

(4) Lotte Mart

(5) Snack foods

(6) Beverages

(7) Petrochemical

(8) Real estate development

(9) Lease

(10) Amusement parks, residences, apartments, hotels

(11) Fast food, coffee shops

(12) Home shopping, cinema

(13) Packaging, advertising, and information technology

2. On February 27, 2017, the South Korean Ministry of Defense stated that Lotte Group decided to transfer the land of Seongju Golf Course to the South Korean Ministry of Defense for the deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system. On March 6, 2017, a spokesperson for the South Korean Lotte Group stated that four Lotte Mart supermarkets in Dandong, Liaoning, Changzhou, Jiangsu and two other places in China were closed after being inspected by local officials. On September 14, 2017, affected by the deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea, Lotte Mart's performance in China was dismal and overwhelmed, and it finally decided to sell its supermarkets in China. Lotte Group had previously wanted to maintain operations in China, but chose to sell off Lotte Mart because of the "gloomy future". In May 2018, 96 of Lotte Mart's 112 stores in China had been sold, and another 14 stores were also sold sporadically or closed down.

Russia:

Since the 1990s, Moscow has become a market that Lotte has actively explored. Lotte has successfully entered the Russian market, especially in the fields of hotels, department stores, and confectionery. Lotte has not only established its brand in Russia, but is also continuously expanding its market share, sounding the clarion call for its entry into the European market.

Europe:

Lotte Confectionery acquired Belgian chocolate company Gililian and Vietnamese pastry company Bibica, and continued to expand its cross-border business scope. On February 18, 2010, Lotte Chemical acquired the factory and equipment of British PTA manufacturer UK in Wilton, actively entering the international market.

Vietnam:

Lotte takes meeting Vietnam's urban development needs as its starting point and meeting the living needs of the Vietnamese people as its focus, and has outstanding performance in urban construction, fast food industry, TV shopping and other aspects.

Southeast Asia and other regions:

In the Southeast Asian market represented by Indonesia and India, Lotte Group has also become one of the most influential overseas companies.

Development History

- In 1965, with the normalization of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Japan, Chairman Shin Kyuk-ho invested in South Korea for the first time and established Lotte Confectionery.

- In 1968, Lotte Aluminum was established.

-1973, Lotte Hotel was established; Lotte Machinery Industry and Lotte Pioneer were established.

-1974, Lotte Corporation was established; Chilsung Hanmi Beverage (now Lotte Chilsung Beverage) was acquired.

-1976, acquired Honam Petrochemical (now Lotte Chemical).

-1978, acquired Mioka Industry (now Lotte Foods); established Lotte Ham & Milk (now Lotte Foods); acquired Pyeonghwa Construction (now Lotte Construction).

- 1979, Lotte Shopping was established.

- In 1980, Lotte Refrigeration was established and Fuji Film of Korea was acquired.

-1982, Daehong Planning was established; Lotte Giants was established; Lotte Corporation was established.

-1983, Lotte Central Research Institute was established; Lotte Distribution Business Headquarters was established.

-1984, Lotte Hotel Busan was established.

-1985, Lotte Canon (now Canon Korea Business Solutions) was established.

- In 1989, Lotte World Business Headquarters was established.

- In 1991, Lotte Inn was established.

-1994, acquired Korea Seven.

- In 1995, Lotte Capital was established.

-1996, Lotte Logistics was established; Lotte Information Communications was established.

- In 1998, Lotte Mart was established.

- In 1999, Lotte Cinema was established.

- 2000, Lotte.com was established; Lotte Bakery was established; Lotte Mart was established.

-2002, acquired Toyo Card (now Rakuten Card).

- 2004, established Lotte Shopping KKD business unit; acquired KP Chemicals.

-2006, acquired Woori Home Shopping (now Lotte Home Shopping).

- In 2007, it acquired Daehan Fire & Defense (now Lotte Insurance).

- In 2008, it acquired KI BANK (now Lotte PS Net).

- In 2009, the company acquired Doosan Alcohol BG (now the alcohol division of Lotte Chilsung Beverage); My B; and Kirin.

- In September 2016, Lotte Group established an AI promotion team. In December of the same year, it signed an agreement with IBM Korea to introduce the artificial intelligence system "Watson".

- On September 29, 2017, Lotte convened shareholders of its four major subsidiaries, Lotte Confectionery, Lotte Shopping, Lotte Foods and Lotte Chilsung Beverages, to hold an extraordinary shareholders' meeting to discuss and approve the company's split and reorganization plan. Starting October 1, Lotte will transform from a family business system to a holding company, focusing on improving the leadership and control of Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin and striving to get rid of the criticism that "Lotte is a Japanese company."

- As of May 2018, 96 of Lotte Mart's 112 stores in China had been sold, and another 14 stores were sold sporadically or closed.

- On July 29, 2018, the two Lotte Department Stores in Tianjin and Weihai, which leased venues, were prioritized for closure. Since the Lotte Department Stores in Shenyang and Chengdu are operated within the Lotte complex, they will continue to operate for a period of time in the future.