Move over, faster checkout. This iconic South Korean department store wants shoppers to linger

South Korea has given the world great skin care, iconic music, and now a luxury department store, as The Hyundai Seoul paves the way for a new approach to digital retail.

Instead of trying to win shoppers over with faster shipping or lower prices, the retailer is betting people increasingly want something that’s become harder to find online: the joy of discovery.

This philosophy is at the center of The Hyundai Hi, a new digital platform created in collaboration with international creative agency Base Design that aims to bring the department store’s in-person experience to a mobile-first destination where shopping feels more like “entertainment” than a transaction.

The platform, which features around 3,000 brands across fashion, food, and lifestyle, is made to highlight curated content, tastemakers, editorial storytelling, and community, replacing scrolling across endless product grids.

The launch comes as retailers around the world grapple with how AI, social media, and e-commerce are reshaping shopping behavior. In South Korea—which has become widely recognized as one of the world’s most digitally advanced retail markets—that pressure is especially augmented, with consumers accustomed to near-instant delivery and intense price competition.

“The brief was basically, ‘We do not believe in traditional e-commerce as it stands in the context of the Korean market; we need to reinvent ourselves and build something from scratch,’” Min Lew, partner at Base Design, told Retail Brew. “We intentionally built The Hyundai Hi as an alternative to this convention of e-commerce. Rather than optimizing the fastest shortcut or path to purchase, we said, ‘How can we let people in and entertain them and keep them and have them come back again and again, even when they don’t have anything they are precisely looking for?’”

Over the years, The Hyundai has become known for turning its physical locations into cultural destinations through pop-ups, exhibitions, food experiences, and exclusive brand collaborations that regularly attract long lines. So the challenge, per Lew, was figuring out how to recreate that same sense of exploration digitally.

“The Hyundai department stores are known for being part retail, part leisure, and a social destination,” she said. “That was our homework…How do we create that feeling…as if you are in the world of Hyundai, just on your phone?”

To solve the problem, the platform turned to design. Instead of focusing on search bars and comparison tools, users can look through curated shops, editorial content, and recommendations. A new feature called “Gems” pushes shoppers to save products that reflect their personal taste, while allowing them to share those collections with others. The feature is designed to make shoppers active participants in the platform instead of simply functioning as a traditional wishlist.

Ok, iconic: The platform has also introduced a network of “Icons,” aka curators and cultural tastemakers who recommend products and create editorial content and includes original programming such as the stylist competition show Kill It alongside lifestyle, food, and travel features. Additionally, shoppers have access to renowned retailers such as Valentino, Aape, and food hall La Grande Épicerie de Paris from Le Bon Marché.

“Online shopping has become incredibly convenient, but convenience alone is no longer enough to differentiate a platform,” YoungShin Jang, platform strategy leader at The Hyundai, said in an email. “At the same time, people are spending more time consuming lifestyle content through social platforms and creators before making purchasing decisions. We believed this was the right moment to combine the trust and merchandising expertise of a premium department store with a digital experience that feels more inspiring, personal, and editorial.”

Jang added that Korean consumers are increasingly looking for products with compelling stories and trusted recommendations rather than simply the lowest prices. At the same time, shoppers tend to go back and forth between physical and digital retail—discovering products online before visiting stores, or vice versa—which reinforced The Hyundai’s vision of creating an omnichannel retail ecosystem rather than treating e-commerce as a standalone entity.

And so far, results suggest the strategy is resonating. According to the company, in the first nine weeks following launch, The Hyundai Hi generated more than KRW 54 billion (~$36 million) in gross merchandise value, up 43.5% YoY. Meanwhile, visitors increased 326% to 9.6 million, traffic rose 315% to 18.5 million clicks, and the platform attracted more than 470,000 new members.

For Lew, the project offers a broader lesson for retailers navigating an increasingly crowded digital landscape.

“It’s taking a lot of different components and weaving them very intricately together to create an immersive and truly engaging experience that is fun and you want to come back to,” she said.