Over 100 Designs Including Palaces, Tigers, and Lucky Pouches
Safe Cosmetic Pigment Ink Used, Lasts for Two Days
25% Discount Offered to Celebrate Service Launch
On June 11, CU, the convenience store chain operated by BGF Retail, announced that it will be the first in the industry to introduce a tattoo kiosk.
The CU Tattoo Kiosk can print a desired design onto the skin in just 1 to 2 seconds, as if printing on paper. Customers can choose from over 100 designs, including images and text. In particular, Korean-themed images such as a palace, "KOREA," a tiger, and a lucky pouch have been added to appeal to foreign customers.
Customers can select their preferred language?Korean, English, Chinese, or Japanese?then choose a design. After applying a tattoo fixer to the skin and lightly rolling the device, the tattoo is completed.
The company explained that the kiosk uses cosmetic pigment ink that complies with Ministry of Food and Drug Safety regulations and lasts about two days without washing. It can be easily removed with soap, making it suitable for use as a point makeup item.
CU installed the tattoo kiosks on June 10 at the CU Myeongdong Station store and the CU T2 Incheon Airport No.3 store. The company plans to install additional kiosks at other high-traffic locations such as the CU Everland store and CU Suwon KTX Station store. There are also plans to expand to stores in areas with tattoo demand, such as beaches, amusement parks, and resorts. To celebrate the launch of the tattoo kiosk, CU is offering a 25% discount on the usage fee (4,000 KRW), making it available for 3,000 KRW until the end of next month.
The tattoo kiosk is part of CU's experiential marketing strategy introduced earlier this year, following capsule toy machines and smoothie machines. This strategy aims to expand the role of convenience stores from simple retail channels to experiential platforms integrated into daily life. In fact, CU’s Real Smoothie has become so popular that an average of over 150 cups are sold per day. Sales from capsule toy machines have also grown by up to 40% compared to the initial launch period.
In addition, CU operates a variety of convenience store services, including a printing box for printing services, a foreign currency exchange kiosk for the convenience of international customers, and the Namane Card Kiosk for issuing customized prepaid cards.
Choi Minji, Head of the Service Platform Team at BGF Retail, said, "CU's tattoo kiosk reflects the recent self-beauty trend that emphasizes individual expression, and it marks a new evolution in convenience store services. We will continue to introduce services that meet customer needs and diversify the role of convenience stores."
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