LG’s telecom unit looks to lure foreigners with more K-pop-themed shops

LG Uplus Corp., South Korea’s No. 3 mobile carrier, is set to lure foreign customers by opening K-pop-themed stores in the country's major shopping and tourist spots to seek a new growth driver as the local telecommunication market is saturated amid the declining population.

LG Uplus decided to revamp 13 shops into stores specializing in K-pop by year-end, which sell albums and merchandise of star artists such as the leading global boy band BTS along with the carrier’s mobile products, according to industry sources on Friday.

Those shops are located in famous areas among foreigners in Seoul and Busan, the country’s two largest metropolitan areas, according to the telecommunication unit of South Korea’s No. 4 conglomerate LG Group.

“We need to target foreigners to make a breakthrough,” said LG Uplus CEO Hwang Hyeon Sik in July.

Its larger rivals – SK Telecom Co. and KT Corp. – have yet to introduce such shops.

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LG Uplus has been running such a store on a trial basis in Hongdae, a neighborhood in Seoul known for urban arts and indie music culture, as well as local shops, clubs, cafés and entertainment, since May.

The number of visitors to the shop rose by 5.8 times compared with the previous three months, while the store’s revenue of K-pop merchandise topped 100 million won ($75,324) in July with more foreigners buying albums and light sticks of popular artists such as BTS and NewJeans.

The store became a must-visit for young foreigners to Hongdae, along with branches of the country’s top beauty store chain CJ Olive Young in the lively suburb near Hongik University, industry sources said.

LG Uplus is considering expanding K-pop-themed branches across the country and introducing dedicated mobile services such as prepaid subscriber identity module (SIM) cards and roaming plans to the stores.

“We aim to develop customized service and dominate the market based on opinions of foreign visitors to those shops,” said a company source.

Write to Ji-Eun Jeong at jeong@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.