3 min read

What can you give to people that make them get out of their couch to go to the store? That’s the questions that many retailers around the world are asking themselves right now. At this point, everyone is familiar with the importance of an omnichannel service, having a strong e-presence and creating an experience for the customer on stores. However, the truth is that there is a new standard that no one — who wishes to remain in the business — can ignore: you must take it an Insta-step further.

For most part of the Western consumers, the name of Stylenanda may not ring a bell. But in South Korea, the beauty and fashion store has generated quite a frenzy amongst millenials and Gen Z’ers with their flagship store, Pink Hotel. With a dreamy Wes-Anderson-Grand-Hotel-Budapest aesthetic, each floor presents a diverse offer of products. From cosmetics and skincare products — using the image of relevant influencers as brand ambassadors — , to womenswear, accessories and a Pink Pool Café with irresistible cotton-candy clouds on top of cute coffee cups.

For anyone slightly keen on posting on social media, it is obvious the store has been designed as the perfect selfie-studio and deco-inspiration referent. Ultimately, this turns the customers into content-creators of Stylenanda’s Pink Hotel, even if they don’t make a purchase. The most Instagrammable spot of the store? Apparently, the “Hello Gorgeous 3ce” pink neon sign just above a flower-filled bathtub.

Born on the Internet on 2004, the South Korean company founded 34-year old Kim Soo-Hee has successfully tapped into an audience of millennials and Gen Z Asian consumers. Long story short, they went from an online market of trendy goods to a 150-million-dollar annual business that’s spread across beauty, fashion, cafés and boutique ventures across Asia.

Surely, the Youtube videos of excited customers showing sharing their experience and enhancing every detail on the Pink Hotel doesn’t hurt in the way of generating revenues and brand awareness. You only have to type “Stylenanda Pink Hotel” to get a clear idea of just how perfect for visual content this store can be, not to mention the store tour on their official channel with Korean celebrity Jeonghan has 97,000 views. However, the massive influence the brand has gained over their audience is highly due to the archetype of “Korean It Girl”, which they promote through their model selection and insta-girls they decide to repost on their 1,1-million-follower Instagram account.

Photo credit: Stylenanda youtube channel

So, why is it a powerful example for the Western retailers? On May 2018, the L’Oréal group acquired 100% of Stylenanda, the first Korean brand on their portfolio. And in a social media world, where our first reaction when looking into a new brand is tapping on the search bar of Instagram, we too might feel tempted to get up from our couch to go take a closer look at this K-beauty-and-fashion world.

Korean brand Stylenanda and the importance of conceiving an Insta-savvy store

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