Coffee chain posts W18.4b operating loss, overshadowing double-digit profit growth at retailer’s core businesses A Starbucks Korea store is closed in Seoul on June 22. (Yoon Chang-bin/The Korea Herald) The fallout from Starbucks Korea’s controversial May 18 “Tank Day” campaign helped push Emart to a consolidated operating loss of 43 billion won ($30.4 million) in the second quarter, despite double-digit profit growth at several of the retail conglomerate’s core businesses.Starbucks Korea posted sales of 747.3 billion won and an operating loss of 18.4 billion won in the April-June period, Emart said Thursday. Emart holds a 67.5 percent stake in SCK Company, the operator of Starbucks Korea.The result marked a sharp reversal from an operating profit of 40.3 billion won in the second quarter of last year and 29.3 billion won in the first quarter of this year. Emart attributed the weak performance in part to fallout from the marketing controversy.Starbucks Korea came under fire after using phrases such as “Tank Day” and “Slam on the desk” on May 18 to promote its “Tank” tumblers. The wording was widely criticized as evoking the military crackdown on the May 18, 1980, Gwangju Democratic Uprising. President Lee Jae Myung also criticized the campaign.Starbucks Korea withdrew the campaign and dismissed CEO Son Jeong-hyun. Shinsegae Group Chair Chung Yong-jin, whose group oversees Emart and its affiliates, later apologized at a press conference. Civic groups and activists, however, continued to stage protests against the coffee chain.“SCK Company will focus on stabilizing its business by restoring consumer trust in the Starbucks brand,” Emart said.The company added that SCK would strengthen internal review procedures and expand social contribution programs to rebuild its brand image. It plans to improve sales and profitability through greater customer engagement and products tailored to changing consumer demand.Emart’s other retail businesses, meanwhile, showed signs of improvement.Traders, Emart’s warehouse-style discount chain, posted second-quarter sales of 992.7 billion won and an operating profit of 34.6 billion won, up 10.3 percent and 12.7 percent, respectively, from a year earlier.Supermarket chain Emart Everyday recorded sales of 389.1 billion won and an operating profit of 8.1 billion won, up 7.2 percent and 51.7 percent, respectively.On a stand-alone basis, excluding subsidiaries such as SCK Company, Emart’s sales rose 3.5 percent on-year to 4.44 trillion won. Operating profit jumped 64 percent to 25.6 billion won.