SOUTH KOREA. Lotte Duty Free has confirmed local reports that it is to open an online duty free service catering to Chinese visitors.
The service (at http://china.lottedfs.com) will launch later this week. It will allow Chinese travellers to pre-order duty free products before they come to Korea, a senior spokesman told The Moodie Report.
Once they have visited the country, the Chinese shoppers can then pick up the pre-ordered products on departure from the airport, he said.
Yonhap News reported that Lotte Duty Free has struck an agreement with Alipay, the operator of China’s leading third-party online payment system to facilitate payment in Yuan, the Chinese currency. The report said that the new site will sell 5,000 products ranging from cosmetics to handbags. It will also have a specific page dedicated to Korean-made products.
Chinese travel to South Korea has boomed in 2012. According to Korea Tourism Organization, the first 11 months of 2012 saw a +28.1% rise in Chinese arrivals to 2,640,895, representing just over a quarter of all visitors to the country. Chinese arrivals rose by +17.4% year-on-year in November to 204,533
Yonhap News noted that Chinese tourists are estimated to have spent KW270 billion (US$252 million) in South Korea during China’s week-long national holiday in October.
 |
The online service allows Chinese travellers to peruse the Lotte Duty Free offer before they travel |
 |
Chinese arrivals to South Korea continued their year-long momentum in November. Click on the table above to view the enlarged image (then hover over graphs with your cursor and click for full detail) |
[houseAd5]
