‘Sulwhasoo’ is one well-known high-end Korean cosmetic brand in South East Asia. It is also popular in Singapore for its high-performing ginseng products. I visited a flagship store of Sulwhasoo at Sinsadong, Gangnam. The store was easy to recognize because it was located along the main street.
When I reached an entrance of the store, I could see the whole building was surrounded by big bronze fences. An architecture, Lyndon Neri, who designed the store said that he used a metaphor of a lantern meaning a container of light. The store consists of 6 floors from B1F to 5F. Each floor has its own theme, and I could see how each floor represents the brand image. Overall, the place is a mixture of traditions and modernity where you can see both Korean traditional and modern props.
At the end of the tour. I found their branding and visual merchandising are interesting enough. They presented how they have developed their packagings since 1973. They have changed shapes and materials of the packaging, but it seemed that they had already found their brand identity from their past packagings. From the packaging display, I could see that they have long history and they put effort to show their identity through packaging. Overall, I was impressed by the whole place and displays of all the floors matched harmoniously. I think they intended to delivery 3 keywords to their visitors: luxury, holistic beauty and a combination of traditions and modernity. After observing the store, I found how branding is important and can impress people or change their mind.
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