What: Lotte, Shinsegae, Hyundai and other department stores are opening special stores for used items and investing in online second-hand marketplace apps to attract younger customers.

Why it is important: Korean department stores used to deal with up-to-date and pricey merchandise to differentiate from other retailers. Due to young customers' increasing demand for used items, they now must differentiate in new ways.

Hyundai in Sinchon (Seoul), has turned its whole fourth floor into a second-hand marketplace, opening various stores selling used clothes and luxury watches and handbags.

BGZT Lab, an offline store from popular resale marketplace app Bungaejangter, saw 400,000 visitors last month at Hyundai Yeouido.

In January 2022, Shinsegae Group invested USD57.17 million in Bungaejangter. In August, the company collaborated with Bungaejanger to open BGZT Collection, its luxury goods store, in the retailer's online shopping mall SSG.com.

On their side, Lotte in Busan also opened a second-hand pop-up store to sell clothes from both domestic and international brands at discounts of up to 70%.

Korean department stores enter second-hand