Reimagining the shopping experience for Korea’s largest duty-free store

Lotte Duty Free is part of the retail division of Lotte Group, the largest Korean retailer with seven domestic and six overseas stores. They were looking for a partner to help them re-conceive the duty-free shopping experience and bring the latest edition of the Lotte Duty Free store to life. They found one in Lippincott.

The design objective was simple. It had to tell the new Lotte Duty Free story, emphasizing contemporary and approachable luxury in a way that was refreshing, delightful and sometimes surprising. The visual merchandising had to move perceptions and create an environment that fostered connections between Lotte Duty Free and its customers. And, it had to lay a digital merchandising foundation that could be leveraged for other stores.

As the elevator doors open, customers are immersed in a digital experience that is whimsical and enticing. LED installations surround the store’s perimeter, hang above the escalators and wrap around the in-store structural columns. Impressive in size and distinctive in form, they seamlessly integrate into the building’s structure, offering maximum retail space without compromising the impact of the visual merchandising.

Videos rotate throughout the day to meld entertainment, local heritage and natural environments. Beautifully choreographed images of global travel destinations evoke excitement and curiosity. Even Lotte Duty Free’s signature “Star Avenue” makes an appearance at the “Star Bridge”: A two-story collection of LED panels that offer moments of surprise and delight with life-size images of Asian pop stars that create the illusion that they are in the store with you.

Lotte Duty Free’s new visual system captures the company’s vision for creating a future-forward retail experience. Its visuals utilize the brand’s signature red to recreate the light movement of fabric. Like the shopping experience itself, the new identity is fluid and graceful. Its consistent usage across the environmental and digital merchandizing guides customers through an ecosystem of modern luxury and enabling discovery.

Occupying two levels of Seoul’s new 123-story Lotte World Tower, the 118,000 square foot store is the largest duty free shop in Korea and the third largest in the world. The stores dramatic LED installations and hyper-relevant digital content isn’t only keeping customers entertained, it is also ensuring they shop longer. Since opening, Lotte has reported a 20% increase in sales.

By dematerializing the fixturing and placing the focus on the store’s digital content, we were able to provide Lotte flexibility in their messaging, ensuring the store will remain fresh and relevant for many years to come.