What: Korea's retail giants are accelerating measures to improve their business structures and cope with online shopping trends.

Why it is important: Korean retail is rapidly changing from Lotte deciding to make its staff younger to Shinsegae acquiring eBay and developing its fulfilment centres.

Lotte Department Store, in particular, is well-known for keeping its employees for years. Maintaining its staff for a long time without deliberately changing the organizational culture has led to the creation of a rigid work environment and a hierarchical corporate culture. Lotte Group Chairman has ordered the company to develop a young and communicative work culture. At the same time, Lotte Group's retail unit, Lotte Shopping, is currently closing down its stores in order to reduce the rental costs for supermarkets and specific stores that have been suffering consecutive years of sales declines.

Shinsegae needs to increase the number of its fulfilment centres in the country in order to increase its sales volume. It has already secured KRW 3.5 trillion (USD 2.96 billion) by selling real estate in Seoul, and it plans to reinvest the funds in eBay Korea and SSG.com. Shinsegae is also preparing for the initial public offering of SSG.com.

Major changes at Korean retail giants