Lotte Department Store Yeongdeungpo Branch Reborn as 'Hip Store' on 1st Floor... First Implementation of Reverse Mentoring Ideas

Lotte Department Store will implement the first idea adopted in the first cohort of reverse mentoring, the 'Hip Department Store,' on the first floor of the Yeongdeungpo branch in December. Photo by Slow Steady Club Seoul Forest store.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] The ideas of young employees adopted through Lotte Department Store's reverse mentoring system are becoming a reality.

Lotte Department Store announced that the first idea adopted in the first reverse mentoring group, the ‘Hip Department Store,’ will be implemented on the first floor of the Yeongdeungpo branch in December. Since March last year, Lotte Department Store has selected millennial employees (aged 24-39) as researchers and has been running the ‘Millennial Trend Table (MTT),’ a program where they pass on their unique culture to management over 3 to 6 months.

Employees selected through MTT meet every Friday in a separate location, not their own departments, to directly experience products and spaces preferred by the core future customer base, the millennials, and study ways to apply these insights to their work, reporting directly to management. While many companies operate reverse mentoring programs, Lotte Shopping’s MTT differentiates itself by actively applying the ideas to actual business operations.

The first idea adopted in the first reverse mentoring group, the ‘Hip Department Store,’ will finally be realized this December on the first floor of Lotte Department Store Yeongdeungpo branch. The main point of the Hip Department Store strategy planned by the first MTT group employees is that as the number of ‘hip millennials’?who live their daily lives while looking at extraordinary moments and fill those moments with their own tastes and standards?increases, the department store must also transform hiply to match these changes.

Reflecting the sensibilities of millennials who, while pursuing convenience and efficiency in their ordinary lives at work, school, and home, seek various ‘flexes’ (showing off success or wealth) for their personal hobbies and tastes on weekends, a new execution team called the H Project Team was established to implement the Hip Department Store, completely breaking away from the traditional department store framework.

The Hip Department Store plans to design spaces and content targeting ‘creators,’ who have the clearest personal tastes and standards even within the millennial age group. With the ambition to make Yeongdeungpo a new ‘Hip Town’ in Seoul, they are collaborating with well-known industry directors to create stores never before seen in department stores.

This project involves directors such as Won Deok-hyun of Slow Steady Club, Choi Jong-woo of Life Workshop, Choi Won-seok of Project Rent, and Lee Geon-wook of Gongwon, who will open a flagship store on the first floor of Lotte Department Store Yeongdeungpo branch on December 17. The Hip Department Store will go beyond simple product sales, offering various community activities such as ‘Muse’s Workshop,’ a program where millennials can meet admired creators and share inspiration with them.

Kim Sang-woo, head of MD Strategy at Lotte Department Store, said, “In an era of content scarcity, a fresh perspective and approach are necessary for change,” adding, “Starting with the Hip Department Store, we plan to actively embrace the voices of millennial employees and showcase the evolving face of the department store in diverse ways.”

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