On June 2, Shinsegae Department Store Busan Branch set a Guinness World Record as the largest department store in the world. Nearly 18,000 outstanding members from Amway in Mainland China and Taiwan were selected to receive rewards for traveling to Korea. Together, they visited representative tourist attractions in Busan such as Nampo-dong and Taejongdae. They then went to the world’s largest department store, Shinsegae Busan. Shinsegae Busan held a grand “Golden Panda” parade specially for these 18,000 Chinese tourists. During the parade, 20 actors dressed as cartoon pandas handed out prizes, and the massive marching parade drew significant attention at the time. Shinsegae Department Store consistently offers a variety of benefits and exciting events tailored to Chinese tourists and other customer groups, and continues to strive in this effort.
Shinsegae collaborates with internationally renowned organizations to provide experiential travel and partners with global credit card companies such as UnionPay for promotional activities. It also works with China International Travel Service on project planning and VIP-exclusive marketing. These are all ongoing efforts by Shinsegae to ensure customer satisfaction in shopping. In addition, the Korean Ministry of Justice has joined forces with Shinsegae Department Store to establish policies for issuing special discount cards exclusively for Chinese VIP members. All of this serves as strong recognition that Shinsegae Department Store is considered the foremost top-tier department store in the Republic of Korea.
If the above still sounds too broad, let’s look at some specific examples of what Shinsegae Department Store has done. From April 30 to August 31 of this year, an event giving away a “Golden Panda” was held at the tax refund counter on the first floor of the Shinsegae main building. Chinese customers who participated in the event had the chance to enter a lottery, and one lucky participant would be selected from all entrants to receive this “Golden Panda.” The 333g pure gold-plated panda is worth nearly 17 million KRW and holds high collectible and commemorative value. Similarly, a “Golden Dragon” giveaway event was also held last year, where the winner was specially invited by Shinsegae and happily took home the prize, the “Golden Dragon.”
During the recent Labor Day holiday, Shinsegae Department Store extended the Golden Week to a total of 17 days (April 25 to May 11), offering product vouchers equivalent to 5% of each customer’s spending amount, specifically targeting Chinese customers. In addition, Shinsegae Department Store provided discounts of 10–30% on nearly 100 popular luxury brands favored by Chinese customers. This campaign was quite successful—compared to the same period in previous years, the number of visitors increased by nearly 65%, and sales rose by 128%. Shinsegae Department Store will continue to actively provide more and better services and promotions for Chinese customers.
In addition, Shinsegae Department Store aims not only to provide the best service in Korea but also within China itself. The official Weibo account of Shinsegae Department Store in Korea has surpassed 4.1 million followers. To show appreciation for the support of Chinese fans, Shinsegae Department Store also holds a variety of engaging activities on Weibo every month.
Through continuous efforts in introducing various renowned tourist attractions related to shopping, art, culture, and entertainment, Shinsegae Department Store has now firmly established itself as the center of “Korean Wave Shopping,” marking a new milestone for the store. Especially popular among Chinese VIP customers are various luxury goods used by today’s trending Korean stars. For example, clothing from the Armani Collezioni brand worn by the famous Korean actor So Ji-sub in a certain drama, COLOMBO bags worn by Jun Ji-hyun, ZIOZIA brand clothing worn by Kim Soo-hyun, and the well-known knitwear brand MISSONI worn by Girls’ Generation are all extremely popular items.
For more details about Shinsegae Department Store, please visit the Shinsegae Department Store Weibo page (http://weibo.com/shinsegaegroup).