Quick summary:
- Pop-up stores in Korean marketing create brand awareness
- Visitors leave with a highly positive image of the brand
- Creating an experience is key
- A successful pop-up store does not necessarily require a well-known brand
What are Pop-up Stores and what can they do?
Pop-up stores are temporary retail spaces that can last from a couple of days to multiple weeks. They are only open for a limited amount of time, pop up in a location and then vanish again. This limited time window gives brands the opportunity to experiment with new locations, new strategies and test their product with a potentially new audience. The relevant keyword here for effective Korean marketing: high customer contact.
The personal contact that pop-up stores offer is a recipe for success when it comes to generating brand awareness. 91,5% of visitors reported to have come out of a pop-up store with a positive view on the brand. The novelty and promised experience that is only available for a certain amount of time attracts customers. For your Korean marketing, it is most favorable to choose a location close to other pop-up stores to benefit from the generally high numbers of visitors that get attracted to the area.
Pop-up stores in Korean marketing throughout 2024
While some people raise the question whether pop-up stores are not bound to lose their charm in Korean marketing soon, the numbers tell a different story. With a total of 1,713 pop-up stores that opened in 2024, their popularity is nowhere near slowing down. The time from October to December was peak season for pop-up stores, with the highest number of openings in the month of December where almost 14% of the total number of new stores saw the light of day.
Do pop-up stores really have a lasting impact on their visitors?
Pop-up stores might seem like a lot of effort is put in without knowing how successful they may prove to be. Or is it a rather safe bet after all? The overwhelming majority of visitors leaves with a positive impression of the brands thanks to the pop-up store and almost half of them end up purchasing the brands products or services. Pop-up stores most definitely create interest in the brand which is supported by 27% of visitors that go to look up more information about the brand and 8% that follow the brand’s channels.
Visitors also do not keep their positive opinion about the brand to themselves but 17% of people recommend the brand’s products and services to others and therefore spread the word to potential new visitors and customers. Pop-up stores as a part of your Korean marketing can create an impressive leap in brand awareness while not only curating a positive association with your brand but also generating real sales.
What visitors look for when visiting a pop-up store
It’s all about the fun in life
Numbers and sales might be at the top of the list for a brand when opening a pop-up store. What visitors care about has little to do with that. What draws them in is the excitement, the promise of a fun experience. The vast majority of visitors do not arrive at the store with the intention of buying something. Visitors absolutely interact with the brand after having visited the store, but the brand itself often is not the reason why they stop by in the first place. 76.8% of visitors said they would visit a store despite being unfamiliar with the brand.
They come for the fun, the memory, the pictures of themselves with their friends that they take home from the photobooth. The element of fun plays a big role when looking at the reasoning why people visit pop-up stores.
Visitors want to grasp the brand, test out products they were curious about before in person and experience the brand to its fullest, which leads to an incredibly positive association with the brand. Stores that have sales as their main purpose are only sought out by approximately 8% of visitors, while 63% crave a hands-on experience.
Walking past a store and being drawn to the layout, the interior or the photo zone is another strong argument for visitors to go through the doors. This is a big reason why pop-up stores often open in the same area, like Seongsu in Seoul for example, to take advantage of knowing that there will always be visitors at the store next door who may then also stop by at your store.
Pop Up Store Trend & Strategy
Seongsu as the hot spot for pop-up stores still holds a lot of truth. However, Seongsu is not the primary location for pop-up stores anymore. Due to the high interest in the district, rent prices for many buildings have gone up so much that not every brand can afford to set up a pop-up store in Seongsu anymore. Many places rent out huge spaces or whole buildings, which for many brands is an amount of space they do not even need, let alone be able to pay for.
This is where local major distributors like The Hyundai have entered the market. In the last year, 55,28% of pop-up stores were opened by distributors, renting out smaller and more affordable spaces to brands. The biggest player with 21% of the total number of stores opened in 2024, was Hyundai who opened 360 pop-up stores, creating an opportunity for all sizes of brands to have a temporary space.
When looking at the type of pop-up store that was opened most often, IP collaborations stand out with 23% of all opened pop-up stores in 2024 fitting in the IP category. This includes well-known formats like idols promoting their latest song but these days it has also expanded to working with all kinds of general influencers and YouTubers that collaborate with brands for the purpose of promoting their pop-up store. Working with celebrities or characters is an incredible asset for brands to make their pop-up store experience even more enticing to the audience as well as increase their reach. Making well-known public figures a part of your Korean marketing.
Conclusion
Pop-up stores are still a powerful tool in Korean marketing that continues to attract many people while raising brand awareness and creating a positive brand image. Creating a fun experience and a lasting positive impression in the minds of potential customers is the key factor to a pop-up store’s success.
Want to learn more about creating a successful Korean Marketing strategy? Contact Waterbe directly!
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