Following Food... Shinsegae Department Store Introduces VIP Program for Lifestyle Categories

If You Spend Over 800,000 Won in 3 Months
Selected as Core Customer in Lifestyle Genre
"Personalized Marketing by Genre"

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Shinsegae Department Store is the first in the industry to introduce a lifestyle genre VIP system called ‘lifestyle genre core customers’’ and is launching personalized marketing.

Shinsegae announced on the 10th that by the 16th, it will select 54,000 lifestyle genre VIP customers across all stores and provide personalized and customized services. Customers selected as lifestyle genre VIPs can also learn interior know-how directly from Shinsegae buyers. The target customers are those who have purchased more than 800,000 KRW in the lifestyle genre in the past three months. The VIP selection criteria amount may change in the future.

Core customers receive discount coupons for buyer-recommended products every two months along with customized text messages called ‘Standard of Space’ that include the latest trends. The theme for June is ‘Kitchen and Dining’ for homebodies. Additionally, a ‘Living Mileage’ system for lifestyle genre VIP customers will be introduced, allowing them to accumulate 5% of their purchase amount as points. Mileage points can also be exchanged for Shinsegae Department Store gift certificates.

Through the establishment of this lifestyle genre VIP system, Shinsegae Department Store plans to offer differentiated experiences to lifestyle genre customers who have emerged as major spenders in department stores. In fact, the lifestyle genre has been growing at a double-digit rate annually, and despite COVID-19, it grew by 6.4% year-on-year based on cumulative sales from January to May this year.

In particular, lifestyle genre VIP customers actively make linked purchases in other genres such as the department store food hall. During the ‘Maison de Shinsegae’ themed event from April 3 to 19, Shinsegae Department Store conducted a pilot selection of 47,000 lifestyle genre core customers across all stores and sent smart messages containing up to 7% discount benefits and 5% mileage accumulation benefits. As a result, lifestyle genre VIPs spent on average 2.1 times more than regular customers. They also spent more than twice as much as regular customers in other genres such as women’s and men’s fashion, cosmetics, and accessories, besides the food hall. Especially in the food genre, they recorded an average spending per customer 2.5 times higher than regular customers.

Lee Seong-hwan, Executive Director of Sales Strategy at Shinsegae Department Store, said, “Following the industry-first launch of food VIPs this year, we expanded personalized marketing by selecting lifestyle VIPs as well,” adding, “We will lead the industry with various services tailored to customers’ lifestyles.”

Meanwhile, since March, Shinsegae has separately selected food hall VIPs and provides discount benefits on products recommended by food buyers as ‘Ingredient of the Month.’

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.