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Cho Young-je, chief executive of Lotte Shopping’s e-commerce Business Division, has resigned in response to the company’s struggles to grow its online presence, the Korea Times writes.
The South Korean retail giant is owned by Lotte Corporation, the multinational conglomerate with other businesses spanning finance, entertainment, food, manufacturing and transport.
Lotte Shopping launched Lotte On, its e-commerce platform encompassing the company’s seven retail brands like Lotte Department Store, Lotte Mart and Lotte Home Shopping, last April. But the player is struggling to cement its position in Korea’s online shopping market, which grew 19 percent year-on-year in 2020. Lotte Shopping’s gross merchandise value hit 7.6 trillion won ($6.7 billion), marking a mere 7 percent boost from 2019, while rival Shinsegae Group’s digital arm SSG.com grew 37 percent during the same period.
Lotte, which said Cho resigned due to health problems, is now looking to hire a CEO from outside the firm with e-commerce expertise.
