‘The Hyundai Seoul’, the’ambitious work’ of Hyundai Department Store, debuted on the 26th. The novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) is the opening of a new department store in the midst of a crisis of’black swan’, which is a topic of interest in the domestic retail industry.
The meaning of the opening of’The Hyundai Seoul’ can be illuminated from many angles. First of all, it is attracting attention because it can show the path of offline stores in the’Corona Era’. How far it can attract shoppers who are tired of’Zipcock’ and’Click Shopping’ will be a kind of indicator that will help us to gauge the future of the domestic retail industry, including distribution.
Hwang Ji-young, a professor at the University of North Carolina, introduced the eight evolutionary strategies of offline companies in the era of’untact’ and collectively referred to it as the concept of’Re:Store’. It can be interpreted as a store reset, the point is that the traditional offline store as a big box store for stuffing things will disappear into the back of history.
The eight strategies proposed by Professor Hwang are △Retail Therapy △Pleasant Retail △Retail Lab △Recreated Space △Evolved Analog △Physical+Digital △Clean Shopping △Cool Eco-friendly. Although the interior space is still covered by a veil,’The Hyundai Seoul’ is likely to be a form that embraces almost all of the eight concepts. It is a’new seed’ department store that is completely different from the domestic department stores that have existed so far.
Among the things Hyundai Department Store is trying to implement in Yeouido, the most notable change is the concept of’Retail Therapy’. Healing through shopping, in other words, the basics of’shopping healing’, was realized by reinterpreting the space to suit the corona era. In a press release released that day, Hyundai Department Store announced, “We will present the first nature-friendly future department store in Korea,’The Hyundai Seoul,’ applying the concept of’retail therapy’ with the concept of naturalism in the city.”
The same will can be read in the space allocation. Of the total operating area of’The Hyundai Seoul’ (89,100㎡), the share of the store area (45,527㎡) is 51%, and the remaining half of the space (49%) is used as indoor landscaping or customer rest area Decorated. An official at Hyundai Department Store explained, “The ratio of store area to the operating area of’The Hyundai Seoul’ is about 30% (14%p) lower than the average (65%) of the 15 stores in Hyundai Department Store.”
‘Corona daily life’, which has already passed a year, is being accepted as stress by many people. Our radius of action has narrowed down to the neighborhood. The word’serving’, meaning’to receive service’, almost disappeared. ‘Delivery (delivery)’ took over. As the pace of change is fast, the desire to go back to the past with counter-incentives is growing. ‘The Hyundai Seoul’ is a huge experimental site that can prove this point.
Hyundai Department Store devoted tremendous effort to realizing’Retail Therapy’. On the first floor, a 12m high artificial waterfall was installed. It is a so-called’Waterfall Garden (740㎡, 224 pyeong). On the 5th floor, the indoor green park’Sounds Forest (3300㎡, 1000 pyeong)’ will be built. It is a space decorated with 30 trees and various flowers on natural grass. The floor height reaches 20m, the height of the 6th floor of the apartment, and natural light is also an advantage. An official at Hyundai Department Store said, “It is expected to become a healing spot because you can feel as if you are walking through the park.”
Another point to watch about the opening of’The Hyundai Seoul’ is that it opens without a famous luxury brand called’Erusha (a compound word for Hermes, Louis Vuitton, and Chanel). Interest is being focused on whether to break the existing’success equation’ that equated the entry of these three luxury goods with the box office of a department store.
In this regard, it is known that in the luxury goods industry, “Yeouido is not a luxury commercial area.” An official in the luxury goods industry said, “Yeouido is a representative office commercial district, where the floating population decreases sharply on weekends.” “All three luxury brands have not yet expressed their intention to enter the store.” Regarding this, the Hyundai Department Store side said, “There is nothing confirmed yet,” but said, “Like the Pangyo branch, famous luxury brands will learn more about Hyundai Seoul.” This means that the two sides are in tight negotiations so far.
Hyundai Department Store Chairman Ji-seon Ji-sun tried to make it so cheap that he attached the proper name’The Hyundai Seoul’ to the Yeouido branch. I can read the will to create a department store that did not exist before, surpassing the Apgujeong main branch. Hyundai Department Store explained that the name of the department store minus the local name was “to make it a landmark that will represent Seoul beyond Yeouido.” There is no concept of’luxury’ among the survival strategies of offline stores in the untact era suggested by Professor Hwang. It is said that the formula for survival of department stores in the past may not be essential in the future, using Bebleen’s law of’the more expensive the better sells’. It is interesting to see if’The Hyundai Seoul’ can present a new shopping model in the corona era.
Reporter Park Donghui [email protected]