Hyundai Department Store is rolling out the artificial intelligence (AI) shopping assistant "Heidi" for Korean customers in an official launch, moving to expand the service in earnest.
Hyundai Department Store said on Oct. 19 that it officially launched a unified version of Heidi for Koreans and foreigners nationwide through Hyundai Department Store and outlet locations, as well as its official website and mobile app.
Customers can access it by scanning the QR code attached at offline stores or by clicking the Heidi menu on the website or app.
Heidi is a conversational AI shopping assistant that uses real-time operating information from Hyundai Department Store and outlet stores to offer tailored suggestions for stores, restaurants, pop-up shops, exhibitions, and more based on customers' interests and preferences.
After selecting the store they plan to visit, customers can talk with Heidi about the shopping experience they want and design a personalized shopping course.
In particular, unlike typical generative AI models that only use publicly available information, Heidi is based on internal information, allowing it to provide accurate and timely guidance, the company said.
In fact, a pilot run targeting foreign customers first showed that it was effective in improving access to shopping content and satisfaction with their time on site.
In the first three months after launch, the average monthly number of Heidi uses was 9,000, with about 2.5% of all foreign purchasing customers using Heidi.
Excluding simple business inquiries such as store hours, the most frequent keywords in foreign customer usage patterns were "gifts (No. 1)," "pop-up (No. 2)," and "restaurants (No. 3)."
They mainly used Heidi to search for content aligned with their visit purpose, asking questions such as "What should I buy as a souvenir of my trip to Korea?", "Is there a restaurant where I can try spicy Korean food?", and "I'm going to buy K-fashion items—recommend a good pop-up."
Common phrases included questions like "ways to enjoy more leisurely" and "how to look around more efficiently," which stood out as requests for overall course planning. It shows that Heidi is serving as a personalized shopping guide, eliminating the need for customers to search social media one by one or visit an information desk.
Taking into account the shopping patterns of domestic and foreign customers, the unified version of Heidi has further advanced its core features.
It particularly focused on enhancing the gift recommendation function, elevating the level of curation. In the unified version of Heidi, it recommends brands and products that fit the customer's gift purpose and desired price range, and if the customer also provides the recipient's gender, age, and preferences, it offers more detailed recommended products and reasons for the recommendations.
Going forward, Hyundai Department Store plans to expand the data that can be linked to Heidi—such as online and offline purchase histories, shopping cart data, and location information—to deliver even more refined personalized curation.