South Korea’s department stores are betting high on the home decor section amid growing interest in home interior as consumers are being forced to spend more time indoors in virus-risk environment.

According to Statistics Korea, the domestic home decor market is estimated to double to 20 trillion won ($16 billion) by 2024 from 10 trillion won in 2010.

Shinsegae Department Store recently announced that it plans to turn its Times Square branch into a department store that specializes in luxury home decor. By the end of 2020, one out of the two Times Square mall buildings had been dedicated to home decor with more than 100 home decor brands.

According to Shinsegae, sales of the home decor building at Times Square branch surged by 30.8 percent compared to a year earlier as of July 25, the highest sales growth rate among all of the home decor sections at Shinsegae’s branches.

LX Z:IN Interior also plans to open a store in July, and premium exclusive stores of ACE Interior and Simmons Interiors are scheduled to open during the second half of this year.

Hyundai Department Store Group plans to focus on home decor as one of its four core businesses along with distribution, fashion, and food. It is aiming to increase sales to around 5 trillion won by 2030, which would be doubled from 2.5 trillion won in 2021.

The retailer offered 900 billion won – its largest investment since founding – to acquire a controlling stake in Zinus in March this year despite Zinus’ sluggish earnings from the logistics crisis in U.S. Zinus is the best-selling mattress company on Amazon and currently dominates 25 to 32 percent of the online market.

Lotte Shopping, the operator of Lotte Department Store, acquired the nation’s No. 1 furniture and interior company Hanssem to open the brand in Lotte’s department stores and Lotte Hi-Mart, its electronic and home appliances retailer. Lotte has set up “Hanssem Design Park” and “Hanssem Rehouse” where customers can try out various products at each of its branches.

By Hong Sung-yong and Susan Lee

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]