Reeling from slackening overall sales for months, local department stores are shifting their focus to Chinese customers.

Department stores are beefing up marketing targeted at Chinese tourists as their number is expected surge during the Chinese National Day holidays from Sept. 30 through Oct. 7.

Chinese customers’ purchases at Lotte Department Store using the China UnionPay credit cards in the first seven months of this year jumped 180 percent from a year ago. The on-year growth this month so far is 205 percent.

Lotte Department Store ran a special advertisement titled “Helping with one heart, one goal” in the Wednesday issue of the Chinese People’s Daily newspaper, two days ahead of the 20th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between Korea and China.

The designer brand ads on the outer walls of Lotte Avenuel, a luxury-brand section within the department store, were replaced with an ad on sale for foreigners with a note in Chinese that Lotte celebrates the 20th anniversary of the two countries’ relations.

Lotte Department Store is offering Chinese customers gifts and special discounts for about 60 brands through the end of this month.

Chinese purchases at Galleria Department Store’s Luxury Hall, which attracts the most Chinese tourists in southern Seoul, in the January-July period climbed 121 percent from a year ago.

Starting this month, Galleria’s Luxury Hall opened its VIP rooms to Chinese VIP customers, and accepts payments in the Chinese yuan and the Hong Kong dollar in addition to offering a currency exchange service.

Galleria also increased the concierge service staff who provide personal shopping assistance for foreigners and provides gift certificates to Chinese shoppers with membership cards who spend 1 million won ($880) or more.

Hyundai Department Store in Seoul’s Apgujeong saw sales to Chinese customers rise 95 percent this year.

Hyundai recently set up a photo zone and a signboard on the feng shui of the affluent Apgujeong area for tourists, in addition to providing the latest information on nearby restaurants, dermatologists and plastic surgeons through its concierge.

Shinsegae Department Store is also planning brand sale events, gifts and K-pop musicians’ performances during the Chinese National Day holidays.

Major duty-free shops have fared well despite the sluggish domestic demand thanks to Chinese and Japanese customers who account for nearly 90 percent of their sales to foreigners.

The Lotte Duty Free Shop in Sogong-dong, central Seoul, saw sales surge 33 percent from a year ago to 600 billion won in the first half of this year. Chinese purchases took up 28 percent of its sales, up from 14 percent last year.

Shilla Duty Free Shop’s sales in the first half jumped nearly 40 percent to 906 billion won on-year. Chinese shoppers accounted for 32.5 percent of Shilla’s sales in the first half, up from 25.1 percent in 2011, while the share of Korean customers shrank to 38.2 percent from last year’s 43.6 percent.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)