Hyundai Department Store, Nestlé forge dietary supplement alliance

Hyundai Department Store Group has chosen multinational food giant Nestlé S.A. as a partner in its long-term drive to expand its bio and healthcare businesses, key future growth engines of the South Korean retail, fashion and lifestyle conglomerate.

Hyundai Department Store Group on Monday announced that it has agreed with Nestlé Health Science S.A. to collaborate on the distribution of the Swiss healthcare company’s nutritional supplements in Korea and review the joint development of new nutritional supplements.

Nestlé Health Science is a bio and healthcare unit under Nestlé and owns 25 nutritional and medical supplement brands including the world’s No. 1 nutritional supplement brand Persona and US top collagen product supplier Vital Proteins.

Under the term, Hyundai Department Store Group’s bio and healthcare unit Hyundai Bioland Co. will be the exclusive supplier of Nestlé Health Science's dietary supplement products in Korea.

Hyundai Bioland and Nestlé Health Science will also exchange their expertise in dietary supplement ingredients and manufacturing technologies to jointly develop and produce healthcare and medical nutrition products.

The latest partnership is expected to accelerate the Korean retail, fashion and lifestyle giant’s drive to expand its bio and healthcare businesses as future growth engines.

VISION 2030

Under the Vision 2030 announced in 2021, Hyundai Department Store Group pledges to reap 40 trillion won ($30 billion) in sales and 2 trillion won in profit by 2030 by fostering the growth of its future businesses such as beauty, healthcare, bio and eco-friendly areas on top of its mainstay distribution, fashion and lifestyle businesses.

The Korean company expects the bio and healthcare businesses will create great synergy with its manufacturing and distribution platforms and pins high hope on its partnership with Nestlé for the expansion of the related business.

Hyundai Department Store Group will use its diverse online and offline outlets ranging from department stores, duty-free shops and home shopping channels to sell Nestlé Health Science’s products in Korea.

Hyundai Bioland and Nestlé Health Science will form a task force to introduce the latter’s new products and build a distribution network in Korea.

They will also seek to produce the Swiss company’s supplements at the Korean partner’s dietary supplement manufacturing factory in Korea and jointly develop new products.

They will also review the joint development of new functional foods by integrating Hyundai Bioland’s expertise in natural ingredient-based nutritional supplements with Nestlé Health Science’s know-how to develop vitamins and high-protein supplements as part of efforts to jointly advance into the global market together and unearth new markets.

Write to Mi-Kyoung Lee at capital@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.