Trend and Future of Retail Space: Part 3
Jooyun Kim's
Spacebranding vol.28
"Only differentiated spaces of experience survive in this era"
<Nature: Pandemic era, aspiration for the environment reached its peak>
Even before the advent of the pandemic era caused by COVID-19, the topic that shook the consumer market was 'environment'. Masks that were used to some extent because of fine dust were once difficult to purchase, so they had to be purchased on a fixed day. However, in terms of retail space and attracting customers, the two eras have come to show opposite aspects.
Even in 2019, before the pandemic, customers flocked to indoor shopping centers and complex cultural spaces equipped with air purification facilities to avoid the external environment full of fine dust. Facilities exposed to the external environment, such as parks, are cut off from people's visits, and outdoor brands with this theme also face a crisis in which sales plummet.
Hanam Starfield ©Roh Joonchul
However, in just a few years, the situation is reversed. People who felt fear of the dense crowd due to the risk of infection found an open natural environment, and brands related to leisure activities such as hiking, camping, and golf enjoyed a boom by breaking new sales records every day. As the trend of wiping away the stress and corona blue accumulated in daily life in nature, such as staring at the forest, water, and fire, retail space had no choice but to reflect this.
It is no exaggeration to say that ‘Sounds Forrest’, an indoor landscape space of 330m2, created inside ‘The Hyundai Seoul’ in Yeouido, opened in February 2021, is at the peak of this trend. Since its opening, the Hyundai Department Store Group has emphasized this space as the most attractive element space which is placed on the top floor with the natural lighting from the ceiling and Richard Roger's column-free space gives customers a strong impression that is hard to experience in any indoor space.
Customers are busy taking selfies in front of scenes that they have not experienced in the "plant cafe" type of space because it is literally a sound forest located in a place rather than a space between columns and under a blocked ceiling.
Inside of 'The Hyundai Seoul's The Sound's Forest' © Roh Joonchul
Inside of 'The Hyundai Seoul's Waterfall Garden' © Roh Joonchul
If The Hyundai Seoul has implemented a natural environment in a huge indoor space, Lotte Premium Outlet "Time Villa," which opened in September of the same year, attracts many customers as a space that utilizes the external natural environment attractively. Unlike other projects, this space is planned by 'Glow Seoul', a space planner and operator, who has received attention as a hip place such as Saladaeng Bangkok and Hotel Seine in Ikseon-dong, in addition to Lotte Shopping and Tomoon Architecture, an architectural designer took part.
They focused their attention on Mount Bara surrounding the Time Villas located in Uiwang. Originally, one side of the outlet with a design that was tightly blocked in the form of a box was opened to the side of the mountain, and a transparent glass wall store named "Glassville" was freely placed. Miseensen, created by the blue sky, green mountains, and pointed gable roofs that anyone can think of if they are "home," is literally attracting customers as a powerful tourist element created by nature that cannot be experienced in any outlet.
<Art & Culture: A retail space that has become a gallery for MZ generation customers who are fascinated by art.>
Art-Tech is no longer an unfamiliar culture among the MZ generation, a major customer of the retail market. Art-tech, which actively participates in art fairs and exhibitions, even if it is not a famous artist, and seeks profits by investing in the works of artists that they like or consider promising, has now spread to the digital market, affecting the booming of the NFT market.
Lotte Department Store Dongtan Branch, a store newly opened at Lotte Department Store in seven years, can be seen as an example of space planning that actively reflects the needs of the MZ generation in space. There are over 100 works by domestic and foreign artists representing contemporary art, including David Hockney's 'In the studio, December 2017', measuring 7.6 meters wide and 2.8 meters tall, all over the store. There is an Art Map booklet that can only be seen in museums. Although it is not comparable to a full-fledged art museum, the completeness of the experience of the space is bound to change due to one such detail.
In the Studio, December 2017, David Hockney, Lotte Department Store Dongtan © Roh Joonchul
On the first floor, media art of 'D'strict', an artist group that is in the spotlight in the media art sector, is continuously flowing through the large screen surrounding the pillars and major stores. It may be unimaginable by the conventional standards of the department store space of the past. The large-scale installation of high-brightness media screens in the space where displayed products are most notable means that the theme of "experience" that can attract major buyers, as well as the act of "purchase" in retail space, is acting as an axis of planning.
<Locality & Pop-up: A space that cannot be experienced other than this place and this time>
It is no exaggeration to say that the keyword that dominates the recent retail marketing market is 'Locality'. In addition, a "hyper-local" culture optimized for narrowed living radius due to the pandemic situation has emerged, and the trend of marketing based on differentiated locality is sweeping the market. Seongsu-dong, the sacred place of hipsters, can be seen as the birthplace of such locality marketing.
Seongsu-dong, which has been the mecca of Seoul's light industry since the 1970s, has been revived by several cafes that renovated factory buildings in the 2010s after a decline. Cafe spaces in Seongsu-dong, represented by red brick outer walls such as Daelim Warehouse and Onion, have become loved by people by capturing the narrative of the time this place has. Since then, restaurants, cafes, and complex cultural spaces using renovation spaces have been built one after another, making Seongsu-dong a hip place for MZ generation.
Seongsu-dong Yeonmujang-gil Complex Cultural Space Platz
One of the distinctive characteristics of the Seongsu-dong hip place space is ‘Pop-up’ marketing. Seongsu-dong, where hipsters gather, has the best characteristics to serve as a test-bed for launching brands in the rapidly changing Korean retail market. Building owners for past factories and warehouses can generate rental income at a lower cost than new investments, and the "Win-win" ecosystem of pop-ups has been created in Seongsu-dong to test the preference of MZ generation, a major customer base, through short-term leases.
Geumseong Arcade
The recently opened Geumseong Arcade by LG Electronics can be seen as a pop-up type of space marketing launched based on this mechanism. It was used as a space to promote its OLED TVs by renting a short-term lease of the space of ‘Sufi Seoul’, a complex cultural space and an editorial shop that was renovated from a printing factory building in Seongsu-dong. The newtro concepts of ‘Geumseong (old brand of LG Electronics)’ and ‘Arcade Room’ can also be seen as planning concepts to match the narrative and texture of the space.
In 2021, Kia Motors held a launching event for its electric vehicle model, EV6, at the ‘Cociety’, a complex cultural space that expanded and renovated a building that used to be a warehouse. Seongsu-dong would have been the best place to check the responses of people in their 20s and 30s, the main customer base, with the idea that the space concept of the society, where remote work and various cultural events are held along with the cafe, is consistent with the brand characteristics of electric cars aiming for a new lifestyle. Luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci are also jumping on the trend by opening seasonal pop-ups at cafes and cultural spaces in Seongsu-dong, trying to appeal to the younger generation in order not to be pushed out as ‘old-fashioned’ brands.
Inside of Cosity Seongsu Branch © Roh Joonchul
The locality has emerged as an important keyword in marketing not only in space but also in the IT market, making regional-based used trading platforms such as carrot markets a unicorn, and this trend is expected to continue for the time being after the pandemic. Space marketing in the form of pop-up is also highly likely to become an indispensable platform in consideration of the characteristics of the domestic retail market, which is moving fast enough to be selected in the global market. It is probably for this reason that even at this time, experts related to space branding are searching for regions and spaces with a narrative that others have not discovered.
"The keywords of the retail space of the future are born from the sincere observation of market trends"
The importance of the retail market, the journey of constant innovation to reduce transaction costs, and the keywords of the retail space that move the current market are reviewed through examples. Even in the face of an unexpected global disaster such as a pandemic, brands and spaces that have carefully observed users' desires and psychology are enjoying record sales and are on the rise. It is an era where only a space that provides an ‘irreplaceable experience’ beyond the simple consumption and purchase activities is replaced by online survives.
The keywords that will symbolize the ‘new era never experienced’ that will be opened after the pandemic will be defined by those who observe and analyze how people’s behaviors and orientations are changing right now. Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Professor Joo yun Kim for allowing me to publish, and I would like to conclude this series. I hope 2022 will be full of success for everyone who loves space and passion for branding.
<5 Summaries>
"Only differentiated spaces of experience survive in this era."
"The keyword of retail space in the future comes from sincere observation of market trends."
"As the trend of wiping away the stress and corona blue accumulated in daily life in nature, such as staring at the forest, water, and fire, retail space had no choice but to reflect this."
"Art-Tech is no longer an unfamiliar culture among the MZ generation, a major customer of the retail market."
"As the "hyper-local" culture emerges, the trend of marketing based on differentiated locality is spreading."
Roh Joonchul joined Samwoo Architecture and participated in a project to design various architectural spaces for 18 years as an architect. While expanding its scope to space planning and retail space marketing, he shares expertise through project consulting and lectures. Efforts are continuing to share insights on "space as an experience" and changing market trends with users through online lectures on Naver Blog and Samwoo Architecture's official YouTube channels.
blog https://blog.naver.com/zipggun
facebook https://www.facebook.com/jcroh/
mail zipggun@gmail.com
facebook https://www.facebook.com/jcroh/
mail zipggun@gmail.com
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