Lotte Group is embarking on a growth trajectory focused on four key themes: health and wellness, mobility, sustainability, and their new life platform. The conglomerate aims to bolster its market position through strategic mergers and acquisitions, along with a comprehensive reorganization of its business portfolio to enhance competitiveness.
The health and wellness sector takes center stage in this growth strategy, with Lotte Healthcare and Lotte Biologics playing pivotal roles. Lotte Healthcare recently ventured into the digital healthcare arena with the introduction of CAZZLE, a personalized health platform. CAZZLE leverages AI algorithms to integrate and analyze health data, survey responses, genetic testing outcomes, exercise logs, dietary information, and supplement details provided by users, offering tailored health insights and streamlined shopping experiences. The goal is to attract one million subscribers to CAZZLE by the close of 2024.
In a strategic move, Lotte Shopping partnered with UK-based retail tech firm Ocado last November, targeting the domestic online grocery market and bolstering its fresh food sales capabilities. By 2030, the company plans to invest 1 trillion won ($740 million) in establishing six automated cargo distribution centers (CFCs), with the inaugural center slated for completion in Busan by 2025. These centers are anticipated to showcase cutting-edge automated logistics systems and generate over 2,000 local jobs.
Under its new name, Lotte Wellfood, the group’s food unit, previously known as Lotte Confectionery, aims to broaden its footprint beyond confectionery into sectors like care food and functional food.
The Lotte R&D Center is dedicated to advancing research on alternative meat in collaboration with its food affiliates. This endeavor prompted strategic partnerships with Pensees and Neo Cremar in July, marking a foray into the cultured meat segment.
Simultaneously, Lotte Chemical is expanding its battery materials value chain, while Lotte Energy Materials, specializing in copper foil production, is scaling up its production facilities across pivotal regions like Korea, Malaysia, Europe, and North America. The unit sets its sights on achieving an order backlog of 15 trillion won this year, surging to 20 trillion won by 2025.
