Despite South Korea’s ultra-fast delivery e-commerce landscape and cut-throat price competition, The Hyundai, a major department store chain in the market, has launched an e-commerce platform designed to trigger new behavior online.
Dubbed The Hyundai Hi, the app was conceived by Base Design, a global creative agency that has created digital experiences and visual identities for Dior, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Grand Palais, Uniqlo, MoMA’s Design Store and more.
The Hyundai Hi
Courtesy
“The brief from The Hyundai was to rethink e-commerce from the ground up,” said Mirek Nisenbaum, digital director and partner at Base Design.
Describing the app as an ecosystem for collecting and expressing taste, Nisenbaum said the design of the app also reimagines “how department stores can extend their moat in a future where traditional e‑commerce is being fundamentally redefined.”
For Min Lew, partner at Base Design, who in 2021 led the naming and creation of The Hyundai’s brand, the app’s focus on curation aims to break free of the local e-commerce market’s monotonous focus on rankings and curated lists, often viewed as a shorthand for “the best,” according to Lew.
“Hyundai Hi was intentionally built as an alternative to that convention,” Lew explained. “This philosophy shaped every level of the platform. It began with the name Hi itself, an open, conversational invitation, and extended through playful interactive design, including speech bubbles and gems throughout the experience,” Lew said.
“It informed new curation models such as emerging brand spotlights, Icon Shop and MeSpace, where trusted tastemakers inspire others through personal recommendations rather than algorithmic rankings,” Lew added.
After its soft launch almost nine weeks ago, The Hyundai Hi has generated more than 54 billion South Korean won, or around $35.3 million, in gross merchandise value, up 43.5 percent year-over-year compared to the retailer’s former official online store, based on new data released by The Hyundai.
Registered users increased almost 560 percent compared with the same time last year, while casual visitor count increased more than 320 percent to 9.6 million. Overall traffic rose more than 300 percent to 18.5 million clicks, the retailer said.
Presented as a semi-gamified experience, users are first greeted with a landing page where they can view the day’s featured offerings and collect “gems,” or product recommendations based on the store’s integrated data system, which offers an eclectic mix of fashion, beauty, home goods and even fresh produce, which are also sometimes livestreamed.
Its clean visual format, which displays products in a Pinterest-like two-column waterfall setting, enables a quick “saved item” function in lieu of an “add to cart” feature via a small semi-3D star-shaped button on the top-right corner of the product.
With message bubbles, editorial content and user-generated content dispersed throughout the homepage, visitors are encouraged to explore the platform’s 3,000 brands and find like-minded users.
The platform also enlisted a network of “Icons” — now 27 and growing — such as the actress Lee Yi-Dam, model Hong Tae Jun and writer Lee Seula, to set up profiles on the platform and offer recommendations and shopping edits.
A screenshot of model Hong Tae Jun’s icon page on the app.
Courtesy
Further blurring the boundaries between retail, entertainment and culture, The Hyundai Hi is investing in original content that includes the fashion stylist survival competition show “Kill It,” which is airing on TVN, a local cable TV network.
In addition, editorial collaborations span the globe — fresh content focused on Scandinavian design will explore lifestyle, food and travel topics.
To further encapsulate the platform’s playful attitude, Base Design created a catchy slogan, “Hi hi,” for the app, which appears on billboards and in digital campaigns, as well as on its shipping cartons.
Framing the app as a foundation for how the legacy retailer envisions the future of retail, Youngshin Jang, platform strategy leader at The Hyundai, said the platform will enable customers to experience the department store “in a new way,” and bring about “a discovery, inspiration and cultural connection that customers associate with our stores into a digital environment.”
“By combining curated brands with influential voices and original content, we’re creating a platform where people can explore their tastes, be inspired by new ideas, and engage with The Hyundai wherever they are,” Jang added.
The Hyundai Hi brings together the retailer’s former official online platform, thehyundai.com, and its food and home goods platform. In addition, a conversational curation service powered by its proprietary AI shopping assistant “Heydi” can be found on the app.
On the back of a buoyant stock market and surging South Korean won-dollar exchange rate, the South Korean market is entering a new phase of luxury customer acquisition.
According to NH Investment & Securities’ recent forecast, all three major department store operators in South Korea, including Lotte, Shinsegae and Hyundai, are set to post record-breaking results for the second quarter of this year.
“Luxury goods are showing the highest growth rate among department store categories, with sales growth of more than 30 percent year-on-year,” Joo Young-hoon, an analyst at NH Investment & Securities, told local media.
Fueled by inbound tourism, which is expected to grow 17.6 percent to 22 million this year, the three department stores are expected to generate more than 3 trillion South Korean won, or $1.9 billion, in sales this year.
