Lotte Duty Free unveils first ‘Smart Store’ shopping to minimize face-to-face contact

Lotte Duty Free offers domestic and foreign shoppers a futuristic shopping experience through its "Smart Store"

South Korea’s largest travel retailer, Lotte Duty Free, hasannounced the “Smart Store”, the first store in the industry that incorporatesdigital innovation technology on the first floor of the Lotte Duty FreeMyeongdong Main Store.

The Smart Store capitalizes on consumer sentiment aboutCOVID-19, allowing the convenience of customer shopping through cutting-edgetechnology.

“The Lotte Duty Free Smart Store is the first future store inthe industry that enables a new digital experience,” said Lee Gap, Lotte DutyFree CEO. “Lotte Duty Free will continue to strive to provide innovativeshopping services in the future.”

This enhanced service intends to minimize face-to-face contactwhile offering a comfortable shopping environment. It will also enhancecustomer shopping experiences with differentiated services for each brand suchas virtual makeup service

The Smart Store is 520sq m and features cosmetics, perfumes,and beauty devices. By applying digital technology to offline stores, thecustomer experience is enhanced, and face-to-face contact is minimized tocreate a fast and pleasant shopping environment without waiting.

Customers visiting the smart store first scan the 'QR code'installed at the store entrance with their smartphone to access the mobile cartdedicated to the Smart Store.

Shoppers then scan the product-specific 'bar code' to checkproduct details, product reviews, inventory quantities and other detail to addit directly to your mobile cart. When you are finished shopping, simply showthe QR code unique to each customer and pay in bulk.

The program was created with both foreign and domestic shoppersin mind. Mobile cart access QR codes can also be scanned with WeChat, China'slargest mobile messenger, and detailed product-specific information isavailable in four languages: Korean, English, Japanese, and simplified Chinese.

In the Smart Store, leading global cosmetics brands such asSK-II, Shiseido, and Estee Lauder enter the store and showcase differentiateddigital shopping services for each brand.

SK-II provides 'I-Magic Ring Bar' that recommends productssuitable for customer's skin through diagnosis on five factors that determineskin age, while Shiseido explains products through LED screens in a 'digitalstore' where the store lighting is switched according to the selected product.

Estee Lauder introduces a 'virtual makeup service' based on ARtechnology that makes it easy and fun for customers to find the lipstick theywant and a digital device 'Digital Shade Finder' that finds the color that bestmatches the skin tone.

In addition to digital shopping services, a differentiatedshopping experience is also provided. La Prairie Facial Cabin, a spa serviceroom that provides skin care services as a product of the Swiss luxury cosmeticbrand La Prairie, is a beauty influencer that works as a Lotte Duty Free model.

'Bitti', which sells curated products, also entered theindustry for the first time.

Through the opening of this smart store, Lotte Duty Freeexpects to increase the convenience of customer shopping through cutting-edgetechnology and to bring about a new wave of change amid consumer sentiment withCOVID-19.

Lotte Duty Free is planning to expand to other offline storesat home and abroad, starting with the opening of the smart store at theMyeongdong headquarters.