Louis Vuitton is the best-selling brand at Incheon International Airport’s duty-free stores, data showed Monday.
The French luxury brand sold items worth 73.2 billion won ($61.8 million) last year at its boutique at The Shilla Duty Free center, which is the brand’s first airport store in the world, having opened in 2011.
It marks the third consecutive year that the brand ranked as the most popular brand by sales.
Sales of Louis Vuitton in Korea, however, declined from 102 billion won in 2012 to 84.8 billion won in 2013 and 74.3 billion won last year, according to data provided by main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy Rep. Kim Sang-hee’s office.
South Korea’s leading tobacco company Korea Tomorrow & Global’s cigarette items ranked second with 66.2 billion won in sales, up from 58.7 billion won in 2013.
Experts attributed the surge in sales to the government-led scheme that hiked cigarette prices by 2,000 won a pack. Prices for cigarettes at duty-free stores remained the same.
Korea Ginseng Corp.’s Cheong Kwan-jang, well known for its Korean red ginseng extract products, secured third place on the list.
No. 4 Sulhwasoo, Korean cosmetics giant AmorePacific’s luxury brand, made the top five list for the first time by selling 59.6 billion won in skin care products last year, beating other foreign beauty brands such as Lancome, Estee Lauder and Christian Dior.
