Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin has chosen Pepero because the flagship product for a brand new strategic initiative in partnership with Lotte meals associates from Korea and Japan, the nation’s sixth-largest conglomerate introduced Sunday. The initiative goals to raise the chocolate stick snack into a worldwide megabrand with annual gross sales of 1 trillion received ($748 million).
Throughout Shin’s current enterprise journey to Europe, the chairman visited Lotte’s international meals manufacturing services in Belgium and Poland to evaluate operations and discover methods for enhancing international competitiveness by synergy between Korean and Japanese Lotte meals firms.
After the inspection, Shin led the One Lotte Technique Assembly in Warsaw, Poland, Tuesday. The One Lotte assembly serves as a consultative physique the place administration heads from Lotte meals firms in Korea and Japan come collectively to develop sensible cooperation methods.
“Korea-Japan Lotte should collaborate carefully to ascertain a sustainable presence within the international market,” Shin reportedly mentioned on the assembly. “We have to present sturdy execution in growing a number of mega-brands, every with over 1 trillion received in worldwide gross sales.”
The assembly centered on positioning Pepero as a worldwide megabrand, after it achieved international gross sales of 200 billion received final 12 months.
To succeed in the 1 trillion received gross sales aim, plans embody increasing in current markets like Vietnam and India, exploring new markets and supporting joint sourcing and advertising and marketing efforts.
Each branches agreed to market merchandise beneath a unified Lotte model abroad, reasonably than distinguishing between the Korean and Japanese merchandise, the group mentioned.
They plan to streamline the worldwide distribution community after evaluating the competitiveness of their flagship manufacturers and can collaborate on testing new merchandise earlier than the official launch.
Shin’s journey additionally included visits to the Guylian plant in Belgium and the Bethel plant in Poland.
Lotte Wellfood acquired Guylian, a top-three international chocolate model, in 2008, whereas Japan’s Lotte bought Bethel, a Polish confectionery firm, in 2010. Shin additionally attended the opening of the Chocolate Manufacturing unit Museum, inaugurated by Lotte Bethel in Warsaw on Sept. 2. The museum, the facade of which resembles a chocolate bar segmented into squares, options an expertise heart, manufacturing services and R&D labs.
The journey was attended by executives from Lotte’s holding firms and meals associates in Korea and Japan, together with Lotte Confectionery CEO Lee Younger-gu, Lotte Wellfood CEO Lee Chang-yeop, Lotte Group’s future technique workplace head Shin Yoo-yeol and Lotte Holdings CEO Genichi Tamatsuka.
In the meantime, the chairman additionally met with architect and designer Thomas Heatherwick in London on Thursday to debate modern architectural design traits and methods.
