THE KOREA ECONOMIC DAILY, GLOBAL EDITION

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

The two companies on Thursday agreed to introduce more nutrition products of Nestle Health in the Korean market and join hands to develop new functional food and dietary supplement products after the meeting between Jang Hojin, the chief executive officer of Hyundai GF Holdings Co., and Nestle Health CEO Anna Mohl in Seoul.

Hyundai GF Holdings is the holding company of Hyundai Department Store Group, and Nestle Health is a nutritional food and dietary supplement-developing subsidiary of the world’s largest food company Nestle.

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

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

They will expand the sales and distribution network for Nestle Health’s products in Korea. As part of it, the Korean retail giant will open an independent store for Nestle Health’s nutrition products, dubbed Nestle Health Science Total Shop, inside one of Hyundai Department Store outlets in Seoul in November.

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

HEALTHCARE AS A GROWTH DRIVER

The two companies will also work together 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 bio medical ingredients.

As Nestle is actively 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 a new healthcare platform, which will sell the group’s own healthcare products in three years. The marketplace will sell dietary supplements of Fitamin operated by Hyundai Department Store Co. and Hyundai Green Food Co.'s care meal kits for those on special diets, including seniors and patients.

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

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

Especially, the group expects the bio and healthcare businesses will create great synergy with its manufacturing and distribution platforms.

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

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