Middle and High School Students Spend Over 100,000 Won Here... "It's Cute"

Naver Webtoon Popular Works Popup Store
Fans Queue from Dawn for Goods 'Open Run'
Active Monetization Using IP and Fandom

Everywhere, the word "cute" is heard repeatedly, and there is a place where teenage high school girls readily open their wallets, spending over 100,000 won. Some even line up from dawn and wait silently for 3 to 4 hours just to spend money. The customer who spent the most paid a staggering 1,051,400 won. We visited the Naver Webtoon pop-up store that is currently the hottest spot among young women.

On the 10th, customers lined up at the Naver Webtoon pop-up store held at The Hyundai Seoul.
[Photo by Kim Bo-kyung]

"I waited from dawn"

On the weekend of the 10th, at the underground first floor event hall of The Hyundai Seoul in Yeouido, Seoul, a pop-up store selling goods using the intellectual property (IP) of the Naver Webtoons 'Nyahan Namja' (written and illustrated by Olso) and 'Maru-neun Gangjwi' (written and illustrated by Mojo) was open. Both webtoons feature cats and dogs as main characters. This is the second time this year that a pop-up store has been held for these two works. The first pop-up store, held for two weeks in June at COEX Mall, attracted over 55,000 visitors, exceeding initial expectations. Following the huge success of the first pop-up store, Naver Webtoon immediately began preparations for the second event.

As the department store opened at 10:30 a.m., crowds rushed toward the event hall. They were doing an "open run" to buy webtoon goods. To enter the pop-up store, visitors must make an online reservation in advance or reserve on-site. However, last month, all advance reservations through Naver were fully booked within two hours. For safety reasons, the organizers allow only 100 to 200 people to enter at the same time, and the advance reservation slots for all business days from the 5th to the 17th of this month were sold out. Now, the only way to enter the pop-up store is through on-site reservations. The first middle school girl to enter the event hall that day arrived at the underground second floor connected to Yeouido subway station at 6 a.m., entered her phone number into a kiosk, and waited outside the department store. When the reporter made an on-site reservation around 10:28 a.m., a notification arrived stating that entry would be possible only at 1 p.m.

A scene of a customer making a payment at a popup store (left) and a photo of a receipt from a customer who purchased over 100,000 won.
[Photo by Kim Bo-kyung]

"Cute things are irresistible"

Most visitors to the pop-up store were women in their teens to thirties. Each carried a shopping basket, busily filling it with products. The walls decorated with iconic scenes from the webtoons served as photo zones, and visitors were busy taking pictures of each other. Looking at the displayed products, most gave positive reactions such as "So cute" and "The product quality is good." Naver Webtoon expanded the pop-up event space to a record 90 pyeong (approximately 297 square meters) and increased the number of goods to 507 types. The variety ranged from dolls, stickers, and pouches to folding tables, tumblers, and glass cups. Some popular items were temporarily sold out. On the 10th, about 6,100 people visited, and the cumulative number of visitors is expected to surpass the first pop-up record of approximately 30,000. No Seung-yeon, head of Naver Webtoon’s global IP business, said, "The response is so good that products are being manufactured and stocked in real time at domestic and overseas factories," adding, "The highest payment by one person was 1,051,400 won."

Naver Webtoon is selling over 500 types of merchandise at a pop-up store featuring popular works. A view of the pop-up store held at The Hyundai Seoul on the 10th.

Park (17) from Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, spent 160,000 won that day. She said, "It's great to be able to touch the characters I only saw in the webtoon in real life." Her friend Lee, who came along, also spent 120,000 won according to her receipt. Lee said she was not a webtoon fan but was drawn to the charm of the characters and ended up buying goods. Jang (21), who lives in Seoul, had spent over 100,000 won here the day before and was visiting again to pick out more items. When asked why, Jang replied, "Cute things are irresistible." Near the event hall, there was a food court, and visitors to the pop-up store were seen having meals, showing the ripple effect of the event. No said, "We will strengthen IP business that captures the webtoon universe to expand creators' earnings and create a healthy webtoon ecosystem."