Lotte Duty Free has been actively supporting ESG projects for its partner companies for the past two years through its Shared Growth Committee. Recently, the company’s CEO, Kim Joo-nam, announced that Lotte has signed a business agreement with Win-Win Growth for the “2024 ESG Support Project for Suppliers.” This project aims to assist small and medium-sized business partners in improving their ESG capabilities.
Last year, Lotte Duty Free Shop participated in this project for the first time in the duty free industry. By conducting the process for two consecutive years, the company hopes to build mutual trust with its partners. As part of this project, Lotte will donate KRW50m to the Win-Win Cooperation Fund and provide customized consulting to strengthen its partner companies’ ESG capabilities.
In addition, Lotte will support its small and medium-sized partners through various activities, such as developing sales channels and providing public relations and marketing support. For example, the company has signed a business agreement with the Small and Medium Business Distribution Center to support the entry, promotion, and marketing of excellent small and medium-sized businesses into Lotte Duty Free Shops. Last month, eight of these businesses operated a pop-up store at the Jeju Airport branch, and four companies with excellent sales were selected as official stores and began sales.
To ensure that its partner companies comply with ESG standards, Lotte will select customized indicators for each company based on the SME ESG standard guidelines of the Compliance Committee. The company plans to provide online training to all partners and select 10 companies for additional offline training and on-site inspection. After the consultation is completed, companies with excellent compliance with ESG indicators will receive an “ESG Excellent Small Business Confirmation” from the Mutual Growth Committee.
Partner companies that obtain this certification will receive incentives such as preferential bank interest rates, preferential treatment for overseas expansion support projects from KOTRA and KOICA, and environmental and energy consulting and technical support from the Korea Institute of Energy Research.
Kim Joo-nam, CEO of Lotte Duty Free, stated, “We are delighted to continue our efforts to strengthen the competitiveness of our small and medium-sized partners and practice ESG management this year.” He added, “Lotte Duty Free will continue to prioritize coexistence as a core value and strive to grow together with our various partners.”
In other news, Lotte Duty Free has recently opened a pop-up store called “Seven Eight Under” at its Myeongdong store. The company has also collaborated with Suntory Global Spirits to open a shop-in-shop boutique at Singapore Changi T4. Additionally, Lotte has reopened its refurbished Tokyo Ginza store under a new “hybrid” strategy.