Lotte Mart helps SMEs crack the China market

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Lotte Mart helps SMEs crack the China market


Small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) will be able to make inroads into China in cooperation with the large discount store chain Lotte Mart, the retailer said yesterday.

Lotte Mart plans to actively support 200 local SMEs through direct-sourcing of their products through Lotte Marts in China and raise awareness of the potential of the market in conjunction with the Small and Medium Business Administration.

The company will sponsor a Korea products sourcing conference on Friday at Lotte’s Jiuxianqio store in Beijing. It also plans to provide information on products of Korean SMEs well-suited to succeed with Chinese buyers.

In addition, Lotte will set up K-Hit Plaza, an exhibition space for SMEs, like the one it opened in Indonesia. The company plans to have the plaza in China up and running by the end of the year to help SMEs find new retail outlets by holding product shows.

Lotte Mart introduced 114 products from 50 SMEs in March. Last July it organized an exhibition of 105 products from 46 SMEs in Shanghai.

Park Hyang-hee Seaweed, which participated in the event, received an enthusiastic response from Chinese consumers and a flood of inquiries from buyers. The SME has been reviewing contract offers form five companies in Hong Kong to purchase sales rights and exports seaweed products to Australia and the United States.

Through such efforts, Lotte Mart plans to double the number of SMEs expanding into China to 200 this year and increase sales by SMEs to 2 billion won ($1.72 million).

In addition to product sourcing, the discount chain said it will actively work to remove obstacles and barriers for small businesses and SMEs expanding into overseas markets.

In particular, it plans to operate a consulting program for expanding overseas with Lotte Mart, which provides information on foreign markets, translates product descriptions into Chinese and assists with licensing and export procedures.

SMEs that wish to enter the Chinese market can submit an application after joining as a member in the shared growth Web site of Lotte Mart.

“As China is the world’s largest market and trade between Korea and China is increasing, the number of local SMEs attracted to the Chinese market is also rising,” said Lim Hyo-sub, manager of the shared-growth strategy team at Lotte Mart. “As a local retailer that expanded to the Chinese market first, we will put more effort into providing a variety of opportunities to excellent companies.”


BY KIM JUNG-YOON [kjy@joongang.co.kr]

BY KIM JUNG-YOON
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