[THE INVESTOR] The brand value of Lotte Group companies has been sharply falling amid prosecutors’ probe into the retail giant and the owner family’s corruption and slush fund creation recently. 

According to market research firm Brand Stock on Oct. 3, Lotte Department Store, the flagship unit of Lotte, the nation's fifth-largest conglomerate, saw its brand rank tumble from eighth in the second quarter to 16th in the third quarter. The figures for other rental car service, fast food chain, supermarket and cinema chain also retreated during the period.

“It is unprecedented that the brand value of Lotte Department Store, South Korea’s representative retail brand, plummeted in this short period of time,” Brand Stock said. “The key Lotte subsidiary seems to have been most affected by the ongoing prosecution‘s probe into the group.”

The market researcher regularly conducts consumer surveys on the nation’s 1,000 brands in 230 sectors to select the top 100 brands.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)