KT&G Tops Louis Vuitton in Airport Duty Free Sales

Louis Vuitton, which opened its own exclusive store at the airport in 2011, was the airport leader from 2012 to 2014 despite declining revenue, with sales of 102.7 billion in 2012, 84.8 billion won in 2013, and 73.2 billion won in 2014. (image: KobizMedia/ Korea Bizwire)

INCHEON, Aug. 1 (Korea Bizwire) – Since 2015, KT&G (Korea Tobacco & Ginseng Corporation) has been able to maintain a winning streak in duty free store sales at Incheon International Airport.

According to airport data, KT&G product sales at Korea’s leading airport came to 103.1 billion won ($92.7 million) and 71.8 billion won, respectively, in 2015 and H1 2016, whereas Louis Vuitton brought in 69.1 billion won and 37.7 billion won in the two periods, ranking third and fourth in sales. 

Louis Vuitton, which opened its own exclusive store at the airport in 2011, was the airport leader from 2012 to 2014 despite declining revenue, with sales of 102.7 billion in 2012, 84.8 billion won in 2013, and 73.2 billion won in 2014. 

In contrast, KT&G saw its sales steadily increase from 2011 (47.6 billion won) to 2014 (66.2 billion won) followed by a sudden urge in 2015, which was largely attributed to the increase in tobacco prices that went into effect in January of the same year. 

The airport’s total duty free store sales steadily increased from 2011 (1.7 trillion won) to 2014 (2.1 trillion won), before dropping in 2015 (1.9 trillion won). The H1 2016 figure is currently estimated at 1.12 trillion won.

By Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)