Seoul:South Korea's leading department store chains are on track to achieve unprecedented sales figures from foreign customers this year, fueled by the rising global interest in Korean fashion and cultural products.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Lotte, Hyundai, and Shinsegae department stores have already surpassed their total foreign customer sales figures from 2025. Last year, these retailers reported foreign sales of 730 billion won, 700 billion won, and 650 billion won, respectively.

Lotte Department Store announced that its sales to foreign customers have exceeded 1 trillion won this year, making it the first South Korean department store to reach this milestone. A company representative highlighted that foreign customers are purchasing both global luxury brands and Korean products associated with K-culture, such as K-fashion and K-food.

Hyundai Department Store is also approaching the 1 trillion won mark in foreign customer sales, with current figures standing at 805 billion won. The company has enhanced its customer service by introducing the AI-powered shopping assistant HEYDI Global last year and implementing a real-time AI translation service in June to improve communication between staff and customers.

Shinsegae has reported 850 billion won in foreign sales for the January-September period and is expected to achieve 1 trillion won by year-end. While Chinese shoppers previously dominated the market, there is now a noticeable increase in demand from non-Chinese foreign customers for Korean products.