Lotte Department Store, Bedding Sales Up 70%
Shinsegae Department Store, Sleep Specialty Shop 'Popular'
Hyundai Department Store, Zinus Pop-up Store Opens
[Asia Economy reporters Lim Chun-han and Jeon Jin-young] As the sleep economy market, known as Sleeponomics, rapidly grows with consumers investing heavily in achieving 'sweet sleep,' department stores are attracting premium bed and bedding brands and expanding popup stores and specialty shops.
According to Lotte Department Store on the 18th, bedding sales increased by 70% from the previous month between the 10th and 16th of this month. During the same period, bedding sales rose by 24.2% at Shinsegae Department Store and by 50% at Galleria Department Store. The domestic sleep market is also growing rapidly. According to the Korea Sleep Industry Association, the domestic sleep market size expanded from around 480 billion KRW in 2011 to over 3 trillion KRW last year.
Lotte Department Store opened ‘N32,’ a specialty foam mattress store in collaboration with Simmons, at 13 major locations including the main store, Jamsil, and Gangnam branches. In October last year, it introduced Duxiana, one of the world’s four major luxury mattress brands, at the Jamsil branch, and in August this year, it launched an Ace Heritz store at the Dongtan branch. In the future, popup stores featuring various premium bed brands such as Hypnos, a bed brand used by the British royal family, are planned. At Lotte Department Store, the average bed purchase amount per person from January to September this year increased by 30% compared to the same period before the COVID-19 pandemic (January to September 2019). Notably, the 2030 generation, who are the main drivers of the hotel vacation trend and often purchase beds for wedding preparations, spent nearly twice the average amount per person compared to all age groups.
Shinsegae Department Store opened ‘Sound Sleep Gallery,’ a specialty sleep shop, at Daejeon Shinsegae Art & Science in August last year. This shop introduces beds, toppers, pillows, lighting, and even smart home IoT services applicable to bedrooms, receiving positive responses from consumers. In the same year, the Gyeonggi branch renovated its lifestyle specialty hall to introduce a ‘Sleep Experience Zone.’ It features premium lines from each bed brand, including Ace Heritz, Simmons Black, Tempur Limited Edition Lyke, and Sealy Crown Jewel. Bed experts provide personalized consultations based on individual body types and sleep habits to recommend optimized mattresses.
Hyundai Department Store opened popup stores for Zinus, a furniture and mattress company it acquired in May this year, at major branches. They are diversifying mid-to-high-end mattresses exclusive to department stores and plan to launch a separate premium line called Zinus Signature (tentative) next year, tailored to Hyundai Department Store’s customer base. On its official online mall, The Hyundai.com, a Zinus section has been established to introduce the brand’s identity and ‘Bed in a Box’ compression technology that delivers mattresses in boxes.
A department store industry official said, "As interest in sleep quality increases recently, premium beds and bedding continue to gain popularity. We plan to strengthen various contents in the growing sleep-related market going forward."
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