Park Jae-hyuk is a seasoned journalist who has provided comprehensive coverage of South Korea's corporate dynamics, economic policies, industry challenges and the global positioning of Korean companies. Based on the articles he has written since joining The Korea Times in 2016, his investigative approach has helped readers understand corporate governance, economic trends and business strategies shaping South Korea’s economy.
INTERVIEW Hafele Korea shifts focus to consumers
Hafele Korea Managing Director Stephen Lee / Courtesy of Hafele Korea
By Park Jae-hyuk
Furniture fittings manufacturer opens new showroom in Seoul
By Park Jae-hyuk
Hafele Group, a German furniture fittings and architecture hardware manufacturer, has been regarded as a company specializing in business-to-business (B2B).
Its Korean subsidiary, which was established in 1995 as one of the group’s 37 regional units, has been generally unknown to ordinary consumers as the company has mainly done business with major furniture companies such as Hanssem.
However, Hafele Korea Managing Director Stephen Lee said his company is enhancing its business strategy for customers.
Opening a new showroom this month along a broad street in southeastern Seoul, Hafele Korea has been trying to improve consumers’ accessibility to the company’s products.
“Our products have already been in large demand in the United States, and Australian business-to-consumer (B2C) markets,” Lee said in a recent interview with The Korea Times.
“If you go to model houses in Korea, you can see more consumers are paying attention to which company’s fittings are installed in furniture. They have come to regard the functions of furniture as more important than appearance.”
The managing director has built his career in the industry, having worked for ASSA ABLOY Entrance Systems, Hilti Korea and Lafarge Korea.
As a specialist in furniture fittings and architecture hardware, he expects a business bellwether in the future will be a company that can offer consumers what they want by predicting their demands.
“Hafele’s business motto, thinking ahead, means we should lead the hardware market, by understanding what our customers need and offering products satisfying their demands before our rivals do,” he said.
The newly opened space shows this idea.
It includes Hafele Shop, which allows consumers to directly purchase the company’s products, and zones exhibiting Hafele Korea’s six fields of business ― furniture fittings, architecture hardware, doors, windows, and natural paint and partner businesses.
Continuing to focus on the six fields, Lee said his company will come up with products keeping pace with market trends, including digitalization and smart homes.
According to the managing director, doors and windows are the Korean subsidiary’s exclusive businesses. The company manufactures related products at a factory in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.
Ethical management
Among Hafele Korea’s six fields, its partner businesses and natural paint have been acknowledged as examples of ethical management.
Supporting the opening of carpentry shops, Hafele Korea’s most popular partner business that only operates here, has drawn attention from elderly people who are considering founding their own businesses after retirement.
Lee said the company will continue to expand the business, because of its marketability.
“For young entrepreneurs, we have come up with new programs costing less money for opening a carpentry shop,” the managing director said. “We hope more young people with bright ideas will have an interest in our carpentry shops.”
Hafele Korea’s other field of business is its natural paints, which are marketed under the brand name Auro.
“Our natural paints are the only product in the field not using petrochemicals in Korea, so we have strategically fostered the business, although its size has yet to get big,” Lee said.
According to Hafele Korea, the paints are so safe that some of them can be used to color Easter eggs.
Such a strategy has attracted Korean consumers, who are concerned about chemical products since the toxic humidifier sterilizer scandal that allegedly killed more than a thousand people.
Hafele Korea even ceased supplying its mold remover when the Ministry of Environment lowered the maximum limit of hydrogen peroxide content after the scandal.
“Mold removers are effective when they contain at least 4 to 5 percent of hydrogen peroxide,” Lee said. “Instead of selling ineffective products, we decided halting the supply of products as a better decision for our customers.”
In addition to these businesses, Hafele Korea has carried out activities for corporate social responsibility.
“Our employees visited a school for the blind in Seoul last year and gave gifts to the students,” the managing director said. “We will regularly and continuously volunteer and offer financial support this year as well.”
Since its founder Adolf Hafele established the firm in the 1920s as a hardware shop selling tools for carpenters, Hafele has grown into a company selling its products in 150 countries.
Headquartered in Nagold, Germany, the company has 37 subsidiaries and 11 offices across the globe.
It is one of the world’s leading makers of furniture fittings and architectural hardware along with the Austrian-based Blum and the German-based Hettich.