330+ Brands Across 8 Floors at Dongdaemun Doosan Tower
Maximizing Synergy with First Store, Trade Center Branch
CEO Hwang Haeyeon: "Two-Track Strategy Connecting Seoul Gangnam and Gangbuk"
Temporary Reduced Hours Due to COVID-19 Situation
[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] 'Achieving 2 trillion KRW in sales within 3 years'
This is the ambitious goal set by Hyundai Department Store Duty Free as it opens its second branch in Dongdaemun, Seoul. While employing a 'two-track strategy' to maximize synergy with its first branch at the Trade Center, the company plans to leverage Dongdaemun's geographical advantages to capture the demand of the 20s and 30s demographic in the northern Seoul commercial district. Industry attention is high to see whether it can settle on a growth trajectory amid concerns over COVID-19 and economic downturn.
Hyundai Department Store Duty Free announced on the 20th that it will open the Hyundai Department Store Duty Free Dongdaemun branch on floors 6 to 13 of Doosan Tower, 275 Jangchungdan-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul, spanning eight floors. Hyundai Department Store Duty Free signed a five-year lease contract for the duty-free space within Doosan Tower with Doosan.
The licensed area of the Dongdaemun branch is 15,551㎡ (approximately 4,704 pyeong), and the store operating hours are from 10:30 AM to 11:00 PM. However, due to recent COVID-19 impacts, operating hours will be temporarily shortened by about 3 hours and 30 minutes, from 12:00 PM to 9:00 PM. Opening celebration events and large-scale customer attraction events will be omitted in consideration of the social atmosphere.
The Dongdaemun commercial district, where Hyundai Department Store Duty Free is located, is a representative tourist attraction in northern Seoul alongside Myeongdong, visited by 7 million foreigners annually. It boasts abundant tourism and cultural infrastructure such as the Dongdaemun Fashion Town Tourism Special Zone, Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), and Gwangjang Market, with about 90 hotels nearby. It also offers excellent transportation accessibility with 4 subway lines, 52 bus routes, and 2 airport limousine routes.
In particular, Dongdaemun Fashion Town is known as a place mainly visited by trend-sensitive foreign tourists in their 20s and 30s. According to the '2018 Foreign Visitor Survey' released by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, foreign tourists visiting Korea ranked Dongdaemun Fashion Town as the 'most impressive place visited' after Myeongdong.
Reflecting these commercial district characteristics, Hyundai Department Store Duty Free has designed the Dongdaemun branch as a 'young and trendy lifestyle store' with the concept of 'Young Luxury, K-Fashion & Beauty.' Floors 6 to 8 will house the Young Luxury section, floors 9 to 11 the K-Fashion & Hallyu section, and the 12th floor the K-Beauty section, filled with over 330 domestic and international brands including luxury goods, fashion, beauty, and electronics. The store will be gradually renewed by March next year, continuously strengthening young and trendy fashion and beauty brands.
By brand, overseas fashion brands such as Italian fashion 'Pinko' and Swiss watch 'Girard-Perregaux,' as well as about 30 K-fashion brands including Andar, Age, and Kangol, will be newly introduced this time. Next month, a 'Hallyu Content Hall' selling K-beauty, souvenirs, and food will open on the 11th floor. The duty-free industry’s first exclusive 'LEGO' store has also been secured, and in April, global fashion brands such as Kenzo, Marc Jacobs, and Bally will be introduced.
Joint marketing with the nearby Hyundai City Outlet Dongdaemun branch is also planned. Foreign customers who purchase at either the outlet or the duty-free store will receive discount coupons for the other, or participate in stamp promotions. In particular, a connecting passageway linking the duty-free store and the outlet is planned to be built as early as this year.
Hwang Hae-yeon, CEO of Hyundai Department Store Duty Free, said, “While the existing Trade Center branch targets business tourists visiting the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) special zone as a luxury duty-free store, the newly opened Dongdaemun branch will operate targeting customers in their 20s and 30s, maximizing synergy.” He added, “Through the two-track operation strategy connecting Gangnam and Gangbuk in Seoul, competitiveness in brand attraction and volume acquisition is expected to improve.” He also projected the Dongdaemun second branch’s annual sales this year at 1.6 trillion KRW and presented the goal of '2 trillion KRW sales growth within 3 years.'
Meanwhile, to commemorate the opening of the Dongdaemun branch, Hyundai Department Store Duty Free will hold a prize event for 220 customers who make purchases. Anyone who purchases over 1 dollar can participate, and prizes such as a 5 million KRW travel voucher to Portugal, a Joo Daebok pendant, and AirPods Pro will be awarded by lottery.
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