e-mart Korea: Defining innovations in Digital Retail Marketing
What is e-mart?
e-mart is South Korea’s oldest & largest discount chain retailer, spread across the country with 160 stores and with the acquisition of Walmart Korea in 2006, e-mart is enjoying its retail leadership in the discount store market. e-mart Korea was launched in 1993 by the Shinsegae in Seoul as its subsidiary. Much like Walmart, e-mart retail stores also offers everything from food to clothes to diapers, and provides a very large variety of merchandise.
Have a look at their corporate video to know them. (2015) – Click Here!
Why talk about it?
The reason behind this is that as an experiential marketing maven, it’s my responsibility to highlight and bring forth all the knowledge of world’s experiential marketing ventures taken place and techniques happening around the world.
Experiential Marketing is an integrated marketing communication (IMC) technique which uses different tools of marketing as one; such as, advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, and social media, through their respective mix of tactics, methods, channels, media, and activities working together and centered on the customer.
Well e-mart is one amongst many who’s capturing their consumers’ attention, which helps them in retaining their first position among retailers like Tesco, in the South-Korean market.
e-mart Korea is specializes to connect with their consumers in every way possible and that’s why it’s soaring high on the name that it has built in such a short time. To understand this, let’s have a look at their on-ground ventures.
e-mart Sunny Sale Campaign – 3D Shadow QR Code (2012)
A unique campaign conducted by e-mart Korea, defined retail marketing in a new light shining under experiential marketing techniques & strategy. As you saw in the video, e-mart retail stores observed decrease in sales during lunch time, i.e. 12 PM – 1 PM and in order to increase their sales, they thought of giving their consumers a unique experience that could be availed during lunch hours only. This on-ground activation made sure that this experiential marketing campaign not only was awe-inspiring but also made an impact on their sales objective.
e-mart Korea installed a shadow QR-Code using the sunlight & shadow that is only available during 12 PM – 1 PM. The idea may be new but is based on the old principle of Sundial. Innovations always have a historical influence which helps in providing a new experience of giving you a natural QR-Code that can be scanned to avail exciting offers and discount coupons to be purchased in the given timeline by the e-mart retail stores. This retail marketing concept was not only innovative but equally engaging which is how it spread from 13 locations to 36 locations in 2012.
e-mart Sale Navigation – Lighting Coupons (March 2013)
Well, to branch out its upcoming mobile business, e-mart Korea launched the digital retail marketing campaign known as the “e-mart Sale Navigation” for consumers to experience e-mart’s new mobile technology, which enabled the customers to know the location of discounted products in the e-mart retail stores through their smartphones.
This campaign is the world’s 1st light-utilizing navigation system that uses the LED lights in e-mart retail stores, which sends data signals to the consumers’ smartphones through a sensor in real time. Only by using the light, the sensor & the smartphone, the consumers in the e-mart retail stores receive shopping information through the app of e-mart. This app lets the consumers know how far they are from the products on sale.
What happens is that the phone acts as a navigation system, by communicating with the light in e-mart retail stores as the consumers arrive at the sale point, and receive a notification of coupons on their phones through the lighting. This campaign by e-mart Korea not only showed a new form of shopping but also showcased a new digital retail marketing strategy which helped in tracing products on sale easily for the consumers.
Providing an experience in itself, the event they carried out in their stores was not only a phenomenal retail marketing technique, but also an exceptional experiential marketing strategy to enhance their use of mobile apps.
e-mart Flying Store (May 2013)
When you read the name e-mart Flying Store, one immediately imagines of the e-mart retail store flying around the city of Seoul.
Well how can that happen?
That’s what intrigued me as well when I came across this campaign, and as innovative & out-of-the box it may be, the idea revolves around – “If you can’t come to e-mart, e-mart will come to you!”
Everyone in world is busy making a living these days, therefore ‘easy accessibility’ is the demand of the hour. To enable the consumers an ‘accessibility’ why not provide the people in South Korea staying far from e-mart, do shopping at e-mart easily!
Well, this is where there campaign idea of the e-mart flying store comes in.
The e-mart retail stores truck shaped balloon is equipped with a Wi-Fi router that can fly to every corner of Seoul, and connect customers to the free Wi-Fi signal emitted by the balloon, using their mobile phones, availing & downloading coupons. In the excitement & curiosity, customers engaged in using the mobile app of e-mart retail store, and bought products immediately contributing in the success of another retail marketing which resulted in sales soaring stronger both as, on-line & off-line stores.
In all, I can conclude by saying, the digital retail marketing campaigns conducted by e-mart Korea was an experience for the customers and even marketeers around the world. The perfect amalgamation of digital marketing, retail promotions, customer engagement and innovative ideas across Seoul and the nation. Thus in my view I’d say,
“emart – Experiential Marketing done right!”
