Annual Sales of 2 Trillion Won in 14 Years Since Opening, First Department Store Outside Seoul to Reach 2 Trillion
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Shinsegae Department Store Centum City has joined the ranks of stores with annual sales exceeding 2 trillion won.
Shinsegae Centum announced on the 1st that it surpassed cumulative sales of 2 trillion won last year, becoming the first department store outside Seoul to achieve the status of a ‘2 trillion won store.’
Annual sales of 2 trillion won is a record achieved by only a few Seoul-area stores, including Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam among the 70 department stores nationwide. This regional store outperformed several metropolitan area stores to achieve record-breaking sales.
Shinsegae Centum City, which opened in 2009 as the world’s largest department store, was the first non-metropolitan store to exceed 1 trillion won in 2016. In 2023, 14 years after opening, it earned the new title of the first regional department store to reach 2 trillion won in sales.
Following the Gangnam store, which opened the era of 3 trillion won single-store sales domestically last year, Shinsegae Department Store has produced a 2 trillion won store in Busan, the country’s second-largest city, marking the success of its ‘No. 1 regional store strategy.’
Shinsegae Centum City is characterized by a higher proportion of customers from outside Busan. More customers come from outside Busan and Korea, establishing it as a Northeast Asia landmark department store.
Analysis of customers visiting Centum City last year by region showed that 55% were from outside Busan, rising to 60% during the summer vacation season.
Nearby areas such as Changwon and Yangsan, as well as the Yeongnam region including Ulsan, Daegu, and North Gyeongsang (12.1%), and metropolitan area customers (13.0%) also accounted for double-digit proportions.
Thanks to the recovery of cruise tourism after the endemic, foreigner sales also increased significantly. Last year, foreigner sales at Centum City jumped 668% compared to 2022, recording the highest growth rate among all Shinsegae Department Store locations.
Located in the core area of Haeundae, Busan, it forms a Shinsegae Group distribution belt with downtown duty-free shops, Westin Chosun Busan, Grand Chosun Busan, and Busan Premium Outlets, establishing itself as an essential tourist course in Busan.
Global customers from a total of 80 countries, including China, Taiwan, Japan, the United States, Greece, Canada, Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia, have visited Shinsegae Centum City to make purchases.
Compared to 2016, when customers from 20 countries made transactions and annual sales reached 1 trillion won, this represents a fourfold increase, solidifying Shinsegae Department Store Centum City as a representative global store and a Northeast Asia landmark.
Shinsegae Centum City is known as a ‘department store without an off-season,’ as it does not experience a sales decline even in midsummer, typically considered an off-season in the industry due to increased overseas travel and lower fashion spending per customer.
According to the monthly sales share of all Shinsegae Department Store locations in 2022, sales share drops to the 7% range in July and August, but Centum City maintains steady sales in the 8% range.
This is attributed to innovative spatial composition that breaks the traditional department store mold and Shinsegae’s unique content offerings.
Located in Haeundae-gu, Korea’s representative summer vacation spot, Shinsegae Centum City opened as the country’s first lifestyle department store by significantly expanding experiential and leisure spaces compared to other department stores.
At its opening in 2009, about 35% of the total area was filled with non-merchandise facilities where customers could experience and enjoy themselves, such as a cinema, large bookstore, spa land, golf practice range, and ice rink, attracting great attention.
In 2016, the Centum City Mall was newly built, expanding the sales area to a total of 198,462㎡ (60,200 pyeong), gathering experiential lifestyle specialty zones in one place, including the duty-free shop, the gourmet-focused ‘Pami? Station,’ and the global job experience theme park ‘KidZania.’
Shopping industry experts view Centum City, which has established itself as a global mega-complex shopping space with scale and content comparable to leading shopping centers worldwide, as having succeeded in attracting customers by offering differentiated summer events and entertainment.
In August last year, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, it collaborated with famous hip-hop artists such as Park Jaebum to present various cultural contents including exhibitions, performances, and talk shows. In July 2022, it also opened a pop-up store for ‘Gorilla Brewing,’ a Busan craft beer.
The food and beverage (F&B) store composition, which breaks the ‘floor formula,’ also played a role. In addition to the food hall on basement level 1 and the specialized restaurant zone on the top 9th floor, a Pami? Station dining area was created between stores on the 4th floor of Centum City Mall, and restaurants and cafes were placed on each floor to encourage customers to stay longer.
It features the only F&B brands in Busan such as ‘Shake Shack Burger’ and ‘Maison Kitsun? Cafe,’ as well as popular local eateries from Haeundae Market like the snack bar ‘Sanggukine,’ ‘Samjin Fish Cake,’ and ‘Lee Heung-yong Confectionery,’ allowing customers to enjoy Busan’s flavors in a comfortable indoor setting, which is also cited as a factor that keeps visitors coming.
Shinsegae Centum City boasts unparalleled product planning power for a regional department store, having opened with the ‘Big Three’ luxury brands?Herm?s, Louis Vuitton, and Chanel?at the same time for the first time in a department store.
Luxury brands such as Herm?s and Chanel, as well as Goyard, Van Cleef & Arpels, Tom Ford, Celine, Cartier, and Chrome Hearts, can only be found at the Centum City store in Busan.
It also houses stores not found even in the Gangnam store, Korea’s top department store, including the world’s top three watch brand ‘Patek Philippe’ and British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s ‘Gordon Ramsay Burger.’
Shinsegae Centum City is recognized not only as ‘Busan’s No. 1 department store’ but also for continuously implementing bold innovations that quickly reflect customer needs and trends.
A representative example is the ‘Hyper Ground’ young fashion specialty zone, which opened in February on basement level 2 with an area of about 8,879㎡ (approximately 2,700 pyeong).
Of the 47 brands in Hyper Ground, nearly half?20 brands?are regionally exclusive new brands, providing a new shopping experience previously unavailable and establishing itself as a ‘holy ground’ for the MZ generation.
Among these, popular fashion brands among young customers such as Alreadyis, Pottery, Outstanding, and Instantfunk first debuted successfully at Hyper Ground before entering the Gangnam store, fulfilling the role of an ‘antenna’ store.
As a vanguard of Busan’s regional economic revitalization, Shinsegae Centum City is growing together with the region through social contribution activities spanning culture, education, and regional coexistence.
It received the highest rating in the ‘2023 Regional Contribution Survey,’ an indicator of voluntary win-win cooperation by large retailers and co-growth with local businesses. It was selected as an excellent company for two consecutive years, receiving a commendation from the Busan mayor in 2023 following 2022.
It supported expanding sales channels for Busan-area companies by holding a ‘Social Economy Enterprise Flea Market’ and last year provided the Hyper Ground (basement level 2) space free of charge to support promotion and sales of excellent small and medium-sized enterprises in Busan by hosting ‘Dongbaek Sanghoe.’
Cultural business content is also a staple item of this department store. It has consistently held invitational exhibitions to discover and support emerging artists in Busan and supports various cultural events such as planned exhibitions hosted by the Busan Biennale and Busan Cultural Foundation.
Since its opening in 2009, it has awarded scholarships totaling 1.8 billion won to about 1,800 middle and high school students in the Busan area, earning the Mecenat Top Award at the 2023 Busan Metropolitan Office of Education Mecenat Top Awards Ceremony.
Park Joohyeong, CEO of Shinsegae Department Store, said, “Shinsegae Centum City has established itself as a successful global landmark by continuously innovating beyond the existing formulas of department stores based on its status as the world’s largest.”
Park added, “With differentiated brands and unique content offering fresh experiences, it will leap beyond being the largest in the world to become the world’s best department store.”
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