April 24, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Korean retail giant Lotte announced on Oct. 10 that it has jointly established an online shopping website iLotte with Indonesian retail giant Salim Group.

The Korean company said that it has set up a 50:50 joint venture for its e-commerce business. But refused to disclose the specific amount of investment.

Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin had signed a memorandum of understanding in February to operate an e-commerce platform with the Indonesian firm’s Chairman Antony Salim in Singapore.

Salim Group is the second biggest firm in Indonesia and recently acquired Elevenia, one of the top three e-commerce firms in the market, from SK Planet, the operator of Korea’s top online market 11st. A Lotte spokesperson told The Investor that iLotte will be operated separately from the Indonesia firm’s other related businesses such as Elevenia.

By expanding its business in the Southeast Asian nation, the Korean retail giant seeks to reduce its dependency on the Chinese market where its sales have fallen amid the prolonged diplomatic tension over the deployment of THAAD missile system.

“We aim to post 500 billion won (US$438.98 million) revenue by 2021 and reach 1 trillion won by 2023 (in Indonesia through iLotte),” Lee Jae-gwan, the iLotte representative said.

The Korean retailer currently has one Lotte Department store, 42 Lotte Mart and two Lotte Duty Free Stores in Indonesia.

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)