Department Store Sales Strategies

To increase sales, one should secure a strategic place where people frequently pass by.

Is there such a place in a luxurious department store?

On the surface, many brand shops are located without a set rule in a large area. Yet, the truth is different.

Each department store has best spots for sales in each story according to strict standards. And here only top brand stores are located.

The Dong-A Ilbo analyzed the strategic sales spots of six department stores: Gangnam Shinsegae Department Store, Shinsegae Main Store, Lotte Main Store, Hyundai Main Store, Trade Center Hyundai Department Store, and Galleria West.

Near the Parking Lot-

Like any other strategic points, in a department store, the best sales spot is where people walk past the most.

Rather than riding an elevator that sends customers directly to the place they want to go, odds are that they buy more products when they go up story by story by escalator.

This makes the department store regard the places around escalators as the best spots to sell products.

To this basic premise many conditions are attached.

Galleria West considers the left side of the elevator to be the cream of the crop as far as sales spots.

An observation found out that customers unconsciously step to the left, rather than to the right. “Medically, people tend to move to the left, rather than to the right where their heart is located,” explains the department.

Lotte Department Store deems the place next to the up-going escalator easier to sell from than the down-going escalator. Stores with more customers who are excited to buy things are likelier to sell products than those with customers on their way home.

Yet, on the first floor of the Lotte Main Store, the down-going escalator is regarded the best, since it is at the front of main entrance of the department store. Luxury brands like Chanel, Christian Dior, and Mac occupy the space.

On the second floor of Gangnam Shinsegae Department Store with many high-end stores, the way from the parking lot to the store is the most popular place. The parking space is reserved for VIPs of the department store. Burberry is located here.

“Box stores” with walls in the corner are viewed as optimal for sales on the clothing floor.

Low-cost casual brands prefer the areas around escalators where people frequently walk by while high-end products sell better when customers feel cozy in the stores.

Efficiency and Customer Tastes Rule-

Each department store has different rules for brand stores.

Sometimes, brands that sell well compared to the store area are mostly preferred. Yet, other times, designer shops that satisfy the main customers’ taste are located forward.

The department stores’ own brands are located at prime spaces on some occasions. For example, Shinsegae Department Store located its own brand Pishon’s shop at strategic places at its Gangnam store and main store.

Galleria West gave the best spot to Steve Alan, a multi-shop of imported products that Galleria directly runs.

The Korean female clothing company Handsome dominates best spots in department stores.

Mine, a brand of the company, occupies as many as five best spots, and another brand, Time, takes the three best places for sales.

roryrery@donga.com