What: Lotte plans to turn 29 Lotte Mart branches into semi-dark stores by 2021.

Why it is important: The company is converting offline facilities as it struggles with the rapid rise of online shopping.

The new plans were announced amid the continuous struggles Lotte Shopping faces, which have been recently aggravated by the Covid-19 outbreak. In the first half of this year, Lotte Shopping, which operates Lotte Mart, Lotte Department Store and Lotte Hi-Mart, swung to 242.31 billion won ($214 million) in net loss in the first half of the year from 186.06 billion won in net profit during the same period last year.

Lotte goes semi-dark as online shopping booms on