Lotte Duty Free holds on to No. 2 spot in global market

Lotte Duty Free retained its second spot among global travel retailers in 2020, with China Duty Free Group (CDFG) leaping to the No. 1 position, an industry report showed Tuesday.

Lotte Duty Free ranked second worldwide with 4.82 billion euros ($5.82 billion) in sales last year, the same standing as a year earlier, according to the Moodie Davitt report.

Lotte Duty Free benefited from Chinese resellers who buy products in large quantities and sell them back home, government support and in-house efforts to expand e-commerce.

But Shilla Duty Free, the operator of the duty-free shop owned by Korea's Hotel Shilla, fell to fifth place from third after recording 2.11 billion euros in sales.

CDFG soared to the top spot from fourth place with 6.6 billion euros in sales, which was up 8.1 percent from a year earlier, as Beijing allowed locals to spend more on its island province of Hainan in July last year.

Dufry of Switzerland slipped to third place from the No. 1 spot with 2.37 billion euros, down 71.1 percent from the previous year. Hong Kong-based travel retailer DFS Group placed fourth with 2.2 billion euros, according to the report.

Yonhap