The first store in a customer-experience overhaul aimed at becoming a ‘living-tech company’ — a store centered on experience and hands-on engagement

Hanssem Co., Ltd., a comprehensive home interior specialist, has opened ‘Hanssem Design Park (Design Park) Songpa (Songpa store)’ in the ‘Le Pied Officetel’ near Munjeong Station in Seoul.

Design Park is a large-scale complex store that presents Hanssem’s products and services — furniture, home remodeling, household goods and more — all in one place. It has offered total interior packages tailored to different life stages and home sizes, along with space-specific displays for living rooms, bedrooms, studies and children’s rooms as well as expert consultations.

The Songpa store is the first Design Park to apply the display strategy that Hanssem unveiled at its ‘Creative Day’ last August. Working with architectural design firm ‘Archimosphere,’ Hanssem redesigned a store that had centered on products and displays into a space built around customer-centered experience, communication and lifestyle. It also strengthened community elements so that even customers who are not there to buy can drop by without pressure. The strategy targets millennial customers who value independent living and personal experience. Hanssem plans to continue rolling out this kind of store transformation going forward.

Delivering a new <spatial experience> through themed curation and specialized archives

Unlike conventional home-furnishing stores that assign fixed spaces such as bedrooms and living rooms and display related products within them, the Songpa store is organized around themes. The layout is designed so that customers can envision the life they would live using the products. Accordingly, the Songpa store presents composite displays of products such as beds, sofas, dressing rooms and dining sets across six themed ‘Pairing Zones,’ including ▲‘Fantasy of Light,’ which leaves a mysterious lingering impression, ▲‘Blues of Patterns,’ which expresses vitality through diverse motifs, and ▲‘Living Forest,’ which conveys a restrained mood through the colors of nature.

This display strategy at the Songpa store is also applied to the ‘Archive Zone’ of the Rehaus store. In the Archive Zone, customers can combine products themselves to create their own spaces. In the ‘Remodeling Archive,’ for example, customers can touch materials and read specialized books as they explore the space they envision. In the storage archive, they can try out built-in wardrobes and built-in cabinets. In the fabric archive, they can compose a space with Hanssem’s made-to-order fabrics, such as motorized blinds and curtains.

The Songpa store also features a ‘Community Zone’ for customers who simply want a relaxed visit, as well as for those making purchases. The Songpa store’s Community Zone is home to ‘Cafe Jinjungsung,’ regarded as a hot spot on social media. The Community Zone is open to all visitors, so even those who do not make a purchase can enjoy the store. Hanssem plans to periodically change the brands and stores in the Community Zone to reflect seasonal and trend changes. Through this, it aims to provide a differentiated customer experience starting from the store entrance.

Experiencing virtual reality through an omni-channel setup powered by digital technology

Throughout the Songpa store, ‘omni-channel’ technology has been applied to connect the online and offline shopping experience. By clicking the QR code attached to products such as furniture and building materials displayed at the Songpa store, customers can link to the corresponding item on Hanssem Mall. Using this feature, customers can experience not only the products on display but also those not on display in 720-degree virtual reality (VR). They can place the experienced products in their own home in advance using augmented reality (AR), and purchase them with ease.

In addition, the digital elements of Design Park have been carried over in full at the Songpa store, including ▲‘Home Planner,’ in which Hanssem’s expert ‘Rehaus Designers (RD)’ design and present 3D spaces based on the floor plans of tens of thousands of apartments nationwide, ▲‘Sample Scanner,’ which lets customers view a product as a 3D rendered image by scanning its QR code, and ▲the ‘Digital Coloring Zone,’ where customers can experience a variety of transformations in spaces such as kitchens and bathrooms through video. In particular, the Digital Coloring Zone, which was previously applied only to kitchens, debuts its first bath zone at the Songpa store.

A wide range of trendy brands have entered the household goods sales zone. Leading brands include ▲‘Raawii,’ a décor, lighting and fabric brand carried by prestigious department stores and design shops around the world, ▲‘Ollot,’ winner of the incense category at the 2022 Brand of the Year Awards, and ▲‘Nordic Sleep,’ a Danish bedding brand that elevates everyday quality of life. The Songpa store plans to present these brands through a ‘Comfort Zone,’ pop-up stores and more.

Songpa store holds opening-commemoration events to welcome customers

Hanssem is running a variety of events to mark the opening of the Songpa store. First, customers who make a reservation on the Hanssem Mall page and then visit the Songpa store will receive a Lotte gift certificate worth up to 20,000 won, for the first 100 people. Customers can each receive a 10,000-won Lotte gift certificate for requesting a furniture estimate or for a home remodeling construction consultation. In addition, customers who sign a full style-package contract receive a 10% discount, while customers who contract one item among kitchen, bath and building materials receive a discount of up to 2.5 million won. For the first 25 customers who visit the store and upload a photo to social media, Hanssem will present a body emulsion product created in collaboration with the nature-concept beauty brand ‘Beyond.’

In addition, customers who purchase ▲a Four Seasons 6 or 7 mattress in queen size or larger, ▲a sofa worth 2 million won or more, ▲a children’s room desk set, or ▲a storage set worth 2 million won or more will receive gifts that go well with the purchased products, such as pillows, room sprays and storage-organizer sets. Customers who newly sign up for Hanssem Mall after visiting the Songpa store can also receive, on weekends only and through a lucky draw, a variety of gifts such as a Dolce Gusto coffee machine, a handle plate and microwave-safe containers. Customers who request a furniture estimate receive a Jinjungsung coupon usable within the Songpa store.

Kim Yoon-hee, head of Hanssem’s Home Furnishing Business Division, said, “Under the concept of ‘From Home to Life,’ the Songpa store is the first case in which a display space that used to be filled with set messages and products has been renewed into a space for customer-centered experience, communication and lifestyle — a new-concept complex store that only Hanssem, which sells products across the full spectrum of home remodeling and home furnishing, can offer.” She added, “Going forward, we will present Hanssem’s unique display concepts, products and expert consultation and other services in various regions, and advance our omni-channel capabilities to differentiate the customer experience.”

▲ The Songpa store features amenities such as a ‘Community Zone’ that can be enjoyed freely.

▲ The Songpa store’s ‘Garden of Dreams’ furnishing curation space

▲ The Songpa store’s ‘Living Forest’ media-art space

▲ At Hanssem Design Park Songpa, Hanssem presented a space created in collaboration with designer Oyou.

▲ The second basement level of Hanssem Design Park Songpa features a specialized curation zone for imported furniture.

▲ Interior furniture can be experienced throughout the Hanssem Design Park Songpa store.