Hyundai Department to triple healthcare sales by 2030 with Nestle

Hyundai Department Store Group, a South Korean conglomerate controlling retail, fashion, healthcare and lifestyle businesses, aims to triple its healthcare sales by 2030 through stronger ties with multinational food and dietary supplement developer Nestle Health Science S.A.

The two companies on Thursday agreed to introduce more nutrition products by Nestle Health into the Korean market and team up to develop new functional food and dietary supplement products. The move followed a meeting in Seoul between CEO Jang Hojin of Hyundai GF Holdings Co., and Nestle Health CEO Anna Mohl.

Hyundai GF Holdings is the holding company of Hyundai Department Store Group; Nestle Health is a subsidiary of the world’s largest food company Nestle, focusing on nutritional food and dietary supplements.

Through the deeper partnership, Hyundai Department Store Group hopes to triple its healthcare business sales to more than 400 billion won ($300.3 million) by 2030.

The Korean company is an exclusive distributor of Nestle Health’s four brands’ products in Korea under a term signed in August last year.

Together, they will expand the sales and distribution network for Nestle Health’s products in Korea. As part of this, the Korean retailer will open an independent store for Nestle Health’s nutrition products, dubbed Nestle Health Science Total Shop, within a Hyundai Department Store outlet in Seoul in November.

Nestle Health owns 25 functional food and dietary supplement brands, and Hyundai Department Store Group plans to introduce two additional Nestle Health brands in Korea this year.

HEALTHCARE AS A GROWTH DRIVER

The two companies will also join hands to develop new nutrition products with ingredients to be supplied by Hyundai Department Store Group’s healthcare unit Hyundai Bioland Co., which develops and produces cosmetics, health supplements and biomedical ingredients.

With Nestle busily expanding its presence in Asia, Hyundai Bioland could serve as Nestle Health’s production base in Asia, said market analysts.

Separately, Hyundai Department Store Group plans to launch, in three years, a new healthcare platform that will sell the group’s own healthcare products. It will sell the dietary supplements of Fitamin operated by Hyundai Department Store Co., and Hyundai Green Food Co.'s meal kits for people on special diets.

Hyundai Department has been expanding its healthcare business since 2021, when it picked healthcare as one of the group’s five new growth drivers under its “Vision 2030.”

Under Vision 2030, Hyundai Department Store Group is eyeing an operating profit of 2 trillion won on sales of 40 trillion won by 2030 with beauty, healthcare, bio and eco-friendly businesses in addition to its mainstay retail, fashion and lifestyle businesses.

The group expects the bio and healthcare businesses to generate huge synergy with its manufacturing and distribution platforms.

“The enhanced partnership [with Nestle] will pave the way for a giant leap in the group’s healthcare business,” said Jang.

Write to Ji-Yoon Yang at yang@hankyung.com
Sookyung Seo edited this article.