Shilla Duty Free targets Chinese shoppers with Alibaba

The Shilla Duty Free Shop, the world’s No. 3 duty-free chain, has joined hands with a Chinese e-commerce giant to attract some 158 million cross-border shoppers in the world’s top online retail market.

The Shilla, a major South Korean duty-free shop operator, said on Tuesday it has agreed with Cainiao Network, Alibaba’s logistics unit, to cooperate in online sales of duty-free South Korean products. That came as South Korea’s government allowed overseas sales of duty-free items through online channels from July.

“We aim to establish a perfect system for duty-free item sales including product purchases to deliveries targeting China’s cross-border shopping market,” said an official of The Shilla.

The duty-free chain has been expanding its presence in China for its global expansion, while its larger rival Lotte Duty Free has been focusing on markets out of the country.

The Shilla is scheduled to launch the service to sell local products to cross-border shoppers in other countries at its online Chinese mall next month. It prepared about 300 popular items such as cosmetics and functional food.

Cainiao is set to handle logistics works for The Shilla in South Korea and deliveries in mainland China, allowing customers there that purchase items from the online duty-free shop to conveniently receive them. 

The number of cross-border shoppers in China is expected to continue to grow from 158 million in 2020, given the increasing population and purchasing power on the mainland, according to local research firm iiMedia Research.

Write to Jeong-Cheol Bae at bjc@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.