South Korea has become one of UK-based retailer Tesco’s most promising markets, and the company plans to nearly double its store numbers in the country over the next financial year.
Tesco’s head of international operations Philip Clarke told the Financial Times South Korea and China were the company’s brightest stars as traditional markets like the UK began to dim.
Mr Clarke said he planned to add 100 stores to Tesco’s existing 130 convenience stores in South Korea, and that he believed the country could handle an additional 100 Tesco Express outlets every year for the foreseeable future.
The South Korean market is Tesco’s largest outside the UK, reported the Financial Times, with a turnover of about US$5.8bn.
Tesco bought 36 hypermarkets for US$1.4bn last year from South Korean retailer E-Land Group, located in and around Seoul. Tesco now holds a 9.6 per cent market share.
South Korean sales are forecast to drop 1 per cent this financial year, according to JPMorgan, with global sales falling 0.3 per cent.
Tesco is also experimenting in Japan, a market that has proven difficult for foreign retailers to break into. Mr Clarke said the company was still working out how to succeed in Japan, and was trialling a new own-label brand range.
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