Shinsegae Department Store is looking for ways to hand over its premium food businesses to Shinsegae Food. The department store operator said on September 8 that it would transfer ownership of its four foreign brands, including Dean & DeLuca and Waitrose, to the group affiliate. Of these, Waitrose has seen its sales revenue triple since the launch in August last year.
A Shinsegae Department Store official said, "Our decision is based on a judgment that it is best to delegate management of food business to a food company, both in terms of profitability and sales revenue expansion."
Shinsegae Group has for the past few years been restructuring its business operations in order to improve efficiency. For the first half of the year, Shinsegae Food has made a sales revenue of 360.3 billion won and an operating profit of 10.6 billion won. Compared to the first half in 2012, sales revenue fell slightly from 366.0 billion won while operating profit declining about 40 percent from 17.7 billion won.
A Shinsegae Department Store official said, "Our decision is based on a judgment that it is best to delegate management of food business to a food company, both in terms of profitability and sales revenue expansion."
Shinsegae Group has for the past few years been restructuring its business operations in order to improve efficiency. For the first half of the year, Shinsegae Food has made a sales revenue of 360.3 billion won and an operating profit of 10.6 billion won. Compared to the first half in 2012, sales revenue fell slightly from 366.0 billion won while operating profit declining about 40 percent from 17.7 billion won.
