At 3 p.m. on the 19th, Space S50 in Seongsu-dong, Seongdong District, Seoul. After opening a door that looked like a wardrobe and stepping inside, a pop-up store (temporary shop) appeared, operated under the name "Doubleyou Closet" by fashion platform W Concept, an affiliate of Shinsegae Group. Throughout the interior of more than 500 pyeong, exhibition spaces (wardrobes) that you enter by opening another door were installed. There were five wardrobes in total, each with a different concept, displaying products from about 360 brands sold online.
A W Concept official said, "Using curation (selection and recommendation), the platform's core competitive edge, we styled each wardrobe space differently—princess, workout lover, homebody, office look, and hipster—and displayed products suited to those traits," and added, "You can touch the fabrics and hold them up to your body, and if you find something you like, you can access a QR code to buy it online."
The wardrobe labeled "workout lover" that day was set up like a locker room often seen in American teen movies, with metal lockers, a long bench, and basketballs. Hoodies and sweatshirts—casual and flashy athleisure (a portmanteau of athletic and leisure) items—hung mainly in the lockers. The "office look" wardrobe, with a relatively calm showroom vibe, had many neat and clean outerwear and knits.
It has been about three years since W Concept, which has no offline stores, ran a pop-up. It is the first time it has moved into Seongsu-dong, known as a "pop-up mecca." By presenting a space where people can touch and experience in person what they used to only view and click on online, the aim is to increase consumer touchpoints and raise brand trust.
To replicate a look similar to its online platform, W Concept also installed screens inside and outside the wardrobes that play short-form content (videos about a minute long) throughout the space. To target young consumers familiar with short-form, W Concept runs a service on the platform where users can watch short-form videos and has even recruited its own creators (producers).
W Concept also set aside a separate area to exhibit products in categories such as active, beauty, and lifestyle, where it is expanding onboarding of new brands. The lineup ranged from headphones, which post high sales on the platform, to skincare and makeup, lighting, and tableware. There were brands offered exclusively on W Concept as well as emerging labels being unveiled offline for the first time.
The pop-up runs through the 23rd. It is available on a first-come, first-served basis without reservations. Visitors can take part in an event to complete missions and receive gifts. Gifts worth about 500,000 won—limited-edition key rings, Dossi pajamas, Frankly slippers, Depperance hand cream, Starbucks holiday tumblers, and Osroi coasters—are provided at random.