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| Food delivery firm Yogiyo's pop-up store at multi-shopping complex Starfield COEX in Seoul / Courtesy of Yogiyo |
By Kim Jae-heun
Companies across the board, including food firms, entertainment agencies and foreign luxury brands, are rushing to open pop-up stores to meet with young customers and appeal to their corporate values, according to industry officials Tuesday.
As the COVID-19 pandemic enters an endemic phase here, people are rushing out to enjoy outdoor activities, and pop-up stores have become a new playground, especially among younger generations.
A pop-up store refers to a retail store that operates for a short period of time ― anywhere from one day to a few weeks or months.
The large U.S. big box department store chain Target first introduced this concept in 2002 and many retailers have since benchmarked the marketing tool after watching it succeed. In Korea, pop-up stores began to gain popularity in 2009, especially among local retailers.
"I think the concept of a pop-up store has changed in the wake of COVID-19. Before the pandemic companies used to launch temporary stores only as a way to introduce their products or services and test them, now they want to meet with their customers and appeal to their sense of brand identity," a local e-commerce firm official said.
Yogiyo, the country's second-largest food delivery operator, ran a pop-up store at Starfield COEX in southern Seoul from Dec. 15, 2022, to Jan. 1. The company offered various promotional events including a Plinko game, paper disk-flipping game and fortune-telling to invite young customers and give out free e-coupons they can use on the Yogiyo platform.
"Yogiyo is selling its food delivery service online, so our top priority in opening a pop-up store is to strengthen our offline business. We also ran the temporary store as a seasonal event to meet up with our customers in a concept of wrapping up 2022," a Yogiyo official said.
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| Nongshim's pop-up store at S Factory in eastern Seoul's Seongsu-dong runs from Jan. 9 to Feb. 8. Courtesy of Nongshim |
The country's largest instant noodle maker Nongshim opened a pop-up store in eastern Seoul's Seongsu-dong on Monday to promote its newly launched Shin Ramyun Zepeto Cup Noodle.
The food firm already introduced its limited-edition product on local metaverse platform Zepeto last October and it went viral, gathering 40,000 visitors online. Nongshim decided to promote its new item to more people offline through its pop-up store from Jan. 9 to Feb. 8.
There are also photo zones and an exhibition venue where people can learn about Nongshim's all-time bestselling Shin Ramyun and its brand history.
"The older generation knows Shin Ramyun's history well but Millennials and Gen Z are not quite as familiar with it. We have opened the pop-up store to communicate with the younger generations, who will be our main customers in the future," a Nongshim official said.
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| Louis Vuitton's pop-up store for the 2022 spring and summer men's collection at Shinsegae Department Store in Gangnam, Seoul / Courtesy of Shinsegae |
For department stores, pop-up stores are a useful tool to quickly catch up with the latest trends. The concept of a temporary store is now one of the most important marketing methods for retailers to test out a new product or service.
International luxury brands and fashion firms have been regularly opening pop-up stores at department stores here, and food companies have recently joined the trend.
"For department stores, it is important to show customers that we are the trendsetters. A pop-up store is a good win-win model for both the fashion brand and department store as the former can check the market reaction to its new products by inviting people to see them in real life while the latter can test their profitability. This way, department stores don't have to take a risk by signing a long-term contract to bring in food or fashion brands that are not guaranteed to succeed," a Shinsegae official said.
Department stores also want to prove themselves as trendsetters in the luxury fashion sector, which is one of their lucrative businesses currently.
"By launching Louis Vuitton's 2022 spring and summer collection for men through a pop-up store at our branch in Gangnam in January 2022, we were able to give a premium image of our company brand," the official said. "This gives us competitiveness in the luxury fashion sector among other local department stores and, at the same time, increases our department store's reputation on the global stage."
