SOUTH KOREA. Lotte Duty Free has redesigned and relaunched its corporate website with a range of new features aimed at informing Korean and international audiences about its activities. It was developed in line with company management’s updated vision for Lotte Duty Free to be ‘The most trusted travel partner’.
The retailer communicates its journey to date and vision to become “global number one” in travel retail. It also carries sections on its current offline and online activity, in Korea and overseas, ranging from its downtown and airport stores to its ecommerce platforms.
Recently launched online shopping platform LDF Buy and LuxeMall, dedicated to selling duty free goods with domestic Customs clearance, are profiled, with direct access to these platforms and to the Lotte Duty Free Online Store.
The company also reinforces its strong promotion of Hallyu (Korean Wave) activity, noting that Lotte Duty Free is an “envoy” of K-culture, with a role in leading global marketing for Korean entertainment and tourism. Its ‘Brand Assets’ page profiles the history of its Star Avenue and Family Concert, introducing Hallyu ambassadors such as BTS and TWICE. It also houses archive material such as concerts, web dramas and music videos. The company said it will “continue to provide a variety of content aimed at Millennials and Gen Z”.
Lotte Duty Free drove the creation of Korean duty free’s first ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) Value Management Commission earlier this year, and the new website profiles the retailer’s social contribution and goals. It also connects visitors to projects such as ‘LDF Starups’ which fosters local youth companies.
The website uses an array of colourful graphics and video to convey to visitors the feeling that they are on a journey. Lotte Duty Free said it had “improved the accessibility and readability of information about the company and business by using images rather than text” to enhance its communications with users.
To broaden its reach, the platform offers access in six languages: Korean, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Japanese, Vietnamese and English.
Lotte Duty Free Head of Marketing Lee Sang-jin said: “Through this official website reorganisation, we have tried to capture the past 40 years and future growth of Lotte Duty Free.”
Separately, Lotte Duty Free said that it has recently upgraded its Online Store in advance of the corporate website redesign. It said it had shifted from a website that displayed discounted products to a “story-telling magazine”, offering a “differentiated digital shopping experience”.
New elements include a sunglasses fitting service using Augmented Reality and a virtual experience space that features Virtual Reality technology. It also includes a personalised product recommendation service that offers tailored advice based on shoppers’ consumption patterns.
