[Report] From Appliances to Lifestyle... Lotte Hi-Mart Jamsil Store Puts the Focus on Customer Experience

Lotte Hi-Mart Jamsil Store Reopens on the 10th After Renewal
Reborn as Korea's Largest Experiential Flagship Store
From In-Store Experiences to Post-Purchase Care... A Bold Bet on "Customer Experience"

Entrance of Lotte Hi-Mart Jamsil branch, the country's largest home appliance store, which reopened after renovation on the 10th. Lotte Hi-Mart

"As our slogan 'Lotte Hi-Mart Makes Home Appliances Easier' suggests, this store is not just about ending with a simple sale. We designed it to ensure that experiences lead to purchases, and that after purchase we take responsibility for the customer's entire life cycle, including repair and replacement."

Head of Product Division at Lotte Hi-Mart, Kim Bokyung, said this on the 10th ahead of the renewal opening of the Lotte Hi-Mart Jamsil store. Kim added, "We launched this store with the intention of providing lifelong care across all stages of the product life cycle, tailored to customers' age groups and lifestyles."

The Lotte Hi-Mart Jamsil store visited that day was different from a conventional "home appliance store." Immediately upon entering the store entrance, the French luxury audio brand Devialet, located on the right-hand side, was the first thing to catch the eye. Its layout is closer to an exhibition space than a sales counter, symbolically representing the direction of this renewal.

As soon as you enter the Lotte Hi-Mart Jamsil store, the Devialet flagship, a French luxury audio brand, is on display to the right. Photo by Kwon Jaehee

Through this renewal, the Jamsil store, the largest home appliance store in Korea, has been completely transformed into a "customer experience-centered flagship store." Walking inward along the main corridor connected to the entrance, there is a dedicated Apple zone on the left, and on the right a long row of large TVs followed by visual appliances and camera sections. Pop-up spaces are placed at intervals along the corridor; on this day, a laptop pop-up was set up to capture new semester demand.

There is symbolism in choosing the Jamsil store as the first renewal store of the year. The Lotte Hi-Mart Jamsil store has a total floor area of 3,760 square meters (about 1,138 pyeong) and is located in the core commercial area of "Lotte Town," which connects Lotte World Tower, a department store, a hotel, and a theme park. It is a high foot-traffic area, with an average of 4,500 visitors per day on weekdays and more than about 14,000 on weekends. In terms of both store size and sales, it is Lotte Hi-Mart's number one outlet. The company plans to develop the Jamsil store not as a simple sales space, but as a flagship offline store where customers can experience home appliances and lifestyle as a whole.

This renewal is the culmination of the "Store New Format" strategy that Lotte Hi-Mart is pursuing. In a situation where searching for information and comparing prices online has become routine, the company has focused on the experiences and consultation functions that only offline stores can provide. In fact, sales at 22 medium- and large-sized stores that underwent renewal last year increased by 39% year-on-year. Kim explained, "Starting with the Jamsil store, we plan to sequentially renew 37 stores this year as well."

The store is arranged so that a corridor connected to the entrance of Lotte Hi-Mart Jamsil branch leads to TVs, cameras, and a Tageon Shop. Reporter Kwon Jaehee

The store layout is clearly divided according to customer age groups and lifestyles. After passing the camera section and moving further inside, customers reach the keyboard "Tageon Shop." From this point, the traffic flow naturally connects to mobile, IT, and hobby categories targeting customers in their 20s and 30s. The mobile specialty zone "MOTOPIA," a custom PC specialty zone where assembly can be completed within one hour, and a gaming and VR zone where console and VR devices can be experienced firsthand are all arranged in one space. Camera, visual, and audio devices are also organized around brand-specific specialty zones and experience areas.

A Lotte Hi-Mart representative said, "There has been strong demand for assembly PCs and custom PCs among enthusiast customers in their 20s and 30s, but in the past they were mainly traded through the Yongsan electronics market, where opaque pricing and information acted as barriers," adding, "At the Jamsil store, we focused on building trust through a structure that guarantees price, quality, and after-sales service."

Turning away from the Tageon Shop, the store naturally leads into the home appliance area. Starting with premium kitchen appliances such as Unox Casa, there are displays of robot vacuum cleaners, a mattress rental zone, and even solar power equipment. Rather than a single home appliance category, the layout brings together "everyday life in the home" along one continuous flow.

A refrigerator from Germany's ultra-premium appliance company 'Ripeureu' (left) and a wine cellar from France's 'Yurokkabeu', the world's first wine cellar brand (right), are on display. Photo by Lotte Hi-Mart

In the space for customers in their 30s and 40s, the key word is "home." Through integrated consulting that covers home appliances, interior design, and durable goods together, the store offers customized proposals that fit customers' budgets and spaces. It has arranged a specialty edited shop for kitchen and bathroom fixtures, and placed interior elements such as lighting, sliding doors, and door handles alongside home appliances, while also strengthening specialty zones for robot vacuum cleaners and kitchen appliances. The idea is to propose interior products such as mattresses, sinks, and sliding doors together with home appliance replacement needs.

In line with the concept of an experiential store, Lotte Hi-Mart has also prepared not only rental and subscription services but also experiential content such as camera classes and a cooking studio. This reflects the intention to make the store "a place to stay" rather than merely "a place to buy."

Ultra-premium content for customers in their 50s and 60s is also a key component of the Jamsil store. Premium built-in kitchen appliances are arranged in showroom formats by brand, and customers can directly experience high-end products such as high-end ovens and wine cellars. Through a 3D visualization-based "Built-in Planner," the store provides one-stop service from consultation on home appliances and interior design to installation. Ultra-premium overseas home appliance brands have moved in, including the only flagship store in Korea of French audio brand Devialet, Japanese home appliance company Twinbird, which produces coffee makers, the oven Unox Casa, famous for chef’s kitchens, and EuroCave, a French high-end home appliance brand known as the world's first wine cellar brand.

Lotte Hi-Mart Jamsil Branch showcases not only home appliances but also a range of durable goods tailored to customers' life stages. A subscription-based mattress displayed at Lotte Hi-Mart Jamsil Branch. Photo by Kwon Jaehee

Taking the Jamsil store renewal as an opportunity, Lotte Hi-Mart is also expanding its "Home Appliance Life Long-Term Care" services. The company plans to strengthen customer experience that continues into post-purchase management through rental services that allow pre-purchase trials, an expanded range of subscription items, and trade-in programs that let customers receive compensation for existing appliances when purchasing new products.

Kim said, "The Jamsil store is a place where we have concentrated Lotte Hi-Mart's competitiveness to match changing customer lifestyles," adding, "We aimed to present a new standard for offline home appliance stores in terms of products, services, and experiential spaces across the board."

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