"Catch the Customers Who Left Home"... Sidiz and Ilum Strengthen Offline Stores

The first Sidiz flagship store opened on the 15th in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] On the 25th, I visited the furniture street in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. In the middle of this area, where famous furniture brand stores are lined up, Sidiz, a chair specialist company, opened its first flagship store on the 15th. Upon entering the entrance, desks and chairs are neatly arranged in sets of four in three rows, creating an atmosphere reminiscent of a school classroom. The space overall prominently features Sidiz’s unique modern and simple design aesthetics.

Tablet PCs are placed on the desks. When the screen is touched, instructions on how to adjust the chair currently being sat on to fit one’s body shape are introduced. Users’ vivid reviews can also be seen. After checking functions such as backrest tilt, headrest, and seat plate, and adjusting the height balance with the desk, the sitting posture becomes much more comfortable. A Sidiz representative said, "Customers can choose colors and materials and place orders while sitting," adding, "We focused on increasing customer experience and convenience while also paying attention to non-face-to-face elements."

Another furniture subsidiary of the Fursys Group, Illoom, also opened a pop-up store called ‘Layered Illoom’ in Seongsu-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul on the 8th. It was designed to allow visitors to directly experience collection rooms reflecting the tastes of celebrities such as actress Kim Tae-ri and singer ‘10CM’ (Sipsenchi). The 10CM room, fitting for a musician’s space, has electric and acoustic guitars hanging on the walls and a synthesizer placed on the side.

'Layered Illoom', a popup store of Illoom, opened in Seongsu-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul.

Layered Illoom is arranged as various experiential spaces including a one-day classroom, an area for experiences with companion dogs, and a caf?. It allows people to naturally encounter Illoom’s furniture such as sofas, cat towers, and tables during their daily enjoyment. It is said to have gained popularity with over 2,000 visitors within just five days of opening. Sidiz is focusing on targeting affluent customers around Nonhyeon-dong by placing ultra-high-end chairs priced around 1.2 million KRW in its flagship store, while Illoom is actively securing demand from the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z) mainly in Seongsu-dong, which is popular among younger people.

Sidiz and Illoom, the main companies of the Fursys Group, opening offline stores one after another in so-called ‘hot places’ is interpreted as an attempt to find a breakthrough amid the increasingly sluggish furniture industry. Due to rising raw material prices, logistics costs, oil prices, and exchange rates, the external environment is unfavorable, and domestically, furniture demand is steadily decreasing due to the end of social distancing and the sluggish housing market.

Looking at Sidiz’s Q1 performance this year as a KOSPI-listed company, sales increased to 72 billion KRW compared to 69.7 billion KRW in the same period last year, but operating profit sharply dropped by 69% from 5.8 billion KRW to 1.8 billion KRW during the same period. For Illoom, a non-listed company, operating profit slightly decreased from 40.3 billion KRW to 40.2 billion KRW last year. As the situation did not improve in Q2, Sidiz raised prices on about 190 chair items by an average of 5% in April. Illoom also increased prices on about 500 items including beds, sofas, and tables by an average of 4% in May after about a year. A furniture industry insider said, "The furniture industry is significantly affected by the housing market, but the situation is not good due to the prolonged Ukraine crisis, construction site work stoppages, and the Cargo Solidarity strike," adding, "The recent trend of opening customer experience stores in the furniture industry is a strategy to compensate for B2B sluggishness with B2C."

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