Annual and monthly domestic-traveler and foreign-traveler sales at Korean duty-free shops (2018–2026, in USD million), compiled from Korea Customs Service open data and monthly press releases.

Annual foreign entries into Korea (2018–2025) plus 2026 year-to-date through July — a key leading indicator for duty-free and inbound consumption demand.

Annual departures by Korean citizens (2018–2025) plus 2026 year-to-date through July, used to read demand at departure-hall duty-free versus downtown stores, and outbound spending trends.

Annual passenger and transfer-passenger counts at Incheon, Gimpo, and Jeju airports (2018–2025) plus Incheon monthly passengers (2015 to August 2026), Gimpo/Gimhae/Jeju international passengers by month (January–August of each year), with Gimpo and Jeju's foreign-entry nationality breakdown — the indicator most directly tied to airport duty-free and retail revenue.

Moodie Davitt's 2024 top-5 global travel retail operators (Avolta, CDFG, Lagardère, Lotte, Shilla) with financial detail — a benchmark for placing Korean operators in global context — plus a timeline of DFS Group (LVMH)'s Hong Kong/Macau sale and U.S. exit after dropping out of the top 5.

Confirmed revenue and operating profit for Korea's four duty-free operators. Q1 and Q2 2026 are both comparable across all four on the same basis (duty-free segment). Q2 — the first quarter after April's Incheon Airport DF1/DF2 reassignment (Shilla→Lotte, Shinsegae→Hyundai) — split the group: Hotel Lotte and Hyundai, who won new zones, grew revenue, while Hotel Shilla and Shinsegae Duty Free, who gave up zones, saw revenue fall even as operating margin improved more. Hotel Lotte's full 2025 Q1–Q4 run is included too, showing six straight quarters. Other years include only values confirmed in disclosures or press reports.

Year-over-year sales growth by channel — department stores, hypermarkets, convenience stores, SSMs, online (2024–2026) plus estimated absolute amounts for August 2026 — tracking the shift in share between offline and online channels.

Annual online shopping transaction value (2018–2025), mobile's share, and cross-border direct purchase/resale volume (including cosmetics) — a picture of how fast e-commerce is growing.

Confirmed revenue and operating profit/loss for six major Korean e-commerce platforms, with notes on why direct comparison is hard given their different business models (inventory-based, open marketplace, ecosystem-driven).

Year-over-year change in Korea's nationwide retail sales index (2023–2026) — a baseline indicator of how the retail industry is actually feeling the economy.

Annual cosmetics (HS 3304) export value and reference statistics by country (2023–2025) — an aggregate gauge of overseas demand for K-beauty spanning duty-free, cross-border resale, and local retail.

Confirmed revenue and operating profit for Korea's top 5 department store chains. Covers annual total store sales (2020–2025) through Q1/Q2 2026 segment results and H1 2026 (Jan–Jun) disclosed results from H1 reports; Lotte, Shinsegae, Hyundai, and Galleria are updated through H1 (Galleria on a consolidated basis). AK Plaza remains undisclosed.

Confirmed revenue and operating profit for Korea's outlet operators, distinguishing Corporate Revenue (the operating company's own revenue) from Total Store Sales (an industry compilation including tenant-brand sales). Lotte's and Hyundai's outlets are folded into their department store segment disclosures, so standalone profit/loss isn't published.

Revenue and margin data for global beauty companies with significant exposure to the duty-free and travel-retail channel. Covers Estée Lauder's FY2026 Q4/full-year results, L'Oréal's 2026 H1 results, and Coty's FY2026 Q4/full-year results, alongside their Hainan and China travel-retail commentary.

Confirmed earnings for Korean home beauty device companies. Covers APR, growing rapidly on a cosmetics-plus-device hybrid model; LG Household & Health Care (Pra:L), diversifying into devices as its cosmetics profitability weakens; and Cellreturn (STG24), still unable to recover five years after a regulatory-risk event.

Annual and monthly KRW/USD and CNY/USD exchange rates (2018–2026) — a supporting indicator for reading foreign tourists' purchasing power and duty-free spend per visitor.