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| Pedestrians pass Apple Gangnam, one of the company's retail stores in southern Seoul, March 29. Apple officially opened its fifth store in the capital on March 31. Yonhap |
By Baek Byung-yeul
Apple opened its Apple Gangnam retail store near Sinnonhyeon Station in the southern Seoul on March 31, only a 15-minute walk from Samsung Electronics' Seocho headquarters. This may be seen as Apple's attempt to strengthen its presence in the country's capital, which has a high demand for premium products, according to industry officials Tuesday.
"The bustling Gangnam Station area, popular with business people and young people, lacked an Apple Store, but now one has finally opened. This move can be interpreted as an attempt to appeal more to customers who prefer high-priced gadgets," an official in the country's IT industry said on condition of anonymity. "It could be a noteworthy signal to Samsung which also aims to appeal more to the younger generation."
Apple Gangnam is Apple's fifth retail store in Seoul. The company is forecast to open its sixth retail store near Hongik University Station, commonly called Hongdae and one of the city's popular night spots. This is interpreted as the iPhone maker's active pursuit of the Korean market, with Seoul as its stepping stone.
There are only four cities in the world where Apple operates more than six retail stores ― Shanghai, London, Sydney and Toronto.
To attract young customers, Apple collaborated with the K-pop girl group NewJeans. Visitors to Apple Gangnam between 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. took part in a 15-minute pop-up program, enjoying the girl band's popular song "OMG" with spatial audio technology.
Apple CEO Tim Cook celebrated the collaboration between NewJeans and Apple on his Twitter account and promoted Apple Gangnam to global customers. "Our team was so excited to host NewJeans for a special sneak peek at Apple Gangnam, we can't wait to open our doors and welcome customers tomorrow in Seoul," the CEO wrote on March 31.
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| Models pose in front of Samsung Electronics' Samsung Store in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul, March 7. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics |
In response, Samsung is also attempting to offer a better customer experience by strengthening its retail store operations.
Beginning March 8, the company will change the name of its stores in Korea to Samsung Store from Samsung Digital Plaza. Samsung operates 360 retail stores nationwide.
The Galaxy smartphone maker is also trying to strengthen its younger brand image with gadgets of Galaxy, Bespoke, SmartThings and Lifestyle TV brands. It aims to make Samsung Store branches into local landmarks by offering a variety of tailored customer experiences at each store.
"Based on the value of the hyper-connected experience provided by One Samsung, Samsung Store will provide locally customized content and programs, transforming the offline store into a local community hub where customers will want to visit and stay," Samsung said.
Facing Apple's launch of mobile payment service Apple Pay last month, Samsung is also growing its Samsung Pay mobile payment service by collaborating with Naver Pay. Joining hands with Naver, Samsung has enabled its Galaxy smartphone users to easily use Naver Pay through Samsung Pay at any store that accepts credit card payments.
Furthermore, Samsung is reportedly considering applying Samsung Pay to its Galaxy Watch smartwatches for payment functions.
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