HUNDREDS of people elbowed each other to enter the Lotte Mart outlet on Jalan Pelajar Pejuang 241, Bandung, Thursday morning two weeks ago. The outlet recently opened at Festival City Link was offering huge promotions and discounts. Customers swarmed what used to be Carrefour.

This is the first Lotte retail outlet in the so-called City of Flowers. The opening of the giant supermarket solidified Lotte’s expansion this year. In less than four mo