CJ Olive Young opens specialized store for foreigners in Seoul

South Korea's health and beauty store chain CJ Olive Young announced on Wednesday it has changed its flagship store Olive Young Myeongdong Town as a specialized for foreigners.

Myeongdong is known for being one of Seoul's main shopping and tourism districts. CJ Olive Young redesigned this store to enhance foreign visitors' customer experience and showcase a diverse range of K-Beauty products. 

Boasting a daily footfall of around 3,000 visitors and a store size of 1,160 square meters, Olive Young Myeongdong Town stands as the largest Olive Young establishment in South Korea. The company plans to develop Olive Young Myeongdong Town into a global K-beauty online-to-offline (O2O) shopping platform. 

With 90% of the clientele being international tourists, the revamped store emphasizes a curated selection from various South Korean SMEs beauty brands, presenting them with potential gateways for global outreach.

CJ Olive Young's strategy revolves around handpicking beauty commodities and delivering a superior shopping journey, aiming to firmly root a favorable global image.

Catering to the multicultural profile of its visitors, the store has amplified its multilingual guide services, now available in English, Chinese, and Japanese.

In tandem with this, Olive Young Myeongdong Town has also rolled out a dedicated mobile interface, featuring multilingual store layouts, floor-wise directions, and highlighting brands that resonate with international shoppers. In a step towards accessibility, English tags accompany all in-store products.

A significant portion of the retail space, named the K-Beauty Now Zone, has been earmarked to spotlight emerging K-Beauty brands. Essentials like face masks and sunscreens, sought after by international visitors, take center stage. Moreover, each month will witness Olive Young spotlighting and endorsing specific K-Beauty brands.

Additionally, for the first time in an offline store, a Global Service Lounge has been set in the Myeongdong Town store. Foreign customers who sign up for the global online mall during their store visit will receive a 'welcome gift' and a discount coupon for the global mall.

Exclusively for the convenience of foreign customers, a separate rest area has been set up, offering free Wi-Fi and the post-purchase duty-free system, all in one place.

Write to Ji-Yoon Yang at yang@hankyung.com