Hyundai Department Store announced on the 9th that it will hold the IADS regular CEO conference in collaboration with the International Association of Department Stores (IADS) at The Hyundai Seoul on the 10th.
This is the first time the IADS CEO conference is being held in Korea since the association was established in France in 1928.
IADS is an association established by global department store leaders for the analysis of the retail industry and research on department store formats, with 16 department stores from 16 countries as members. Korea currently has no member stores.
Only one corporation representing each country can obtain membership, and new members can only join with unanimous consent from existing members. The CEO conference is also conducted in private, primarily aimed at sharing retail trends and discussing cooperation among members, and it is principled to be held only in member countries.
The reason IADS is breaking this internal principle by visiting Hyundai Department Store in a non-member country like Korea is that there has been high interest in the success of The Hyundai Seoul amidst emerging key issues such as generating new growth engines and developing future retail formats among member countries, according to Hyundai Department Store.
Representatives from nine department store CEOs and executives within IADS from countries such as ▲United States' Bloomingdale’s ▲France's Galeries Lafayette ▲Germany's Breuninger ▲Switzerland's Manor ▲Denmark's Magasin du Nord ▲Thailand's The Mall ▲Hong Kong's SOGO ▲Ukraine's TSUM Kyiv ▲China's SKP will participate in this conference. They will first tour the main content of The Hyundai Seoul before the conference.
The conference will be co-chaired by Jeong Ji-young, president of Hyundai Department Store, and Kam Sim Lau, chairman of IADS. In this meeting, the success know-how of The Hyundai Seoul will be shared, along with the direction of 'The Hyundai 2.0', which will expand to The Hyundai Busan and The Hyundai Gwangju. Various business model diversification strategies will also be introduced, including the K-brand export platform 'The Hyundai Global' and the retail model 'Connect Hyundai,' which combines department stores, outlets, and museums.
Jeong Ji-young, president of Hyundai Department Store, said, 'Department stores are evolving beyond just shopping spaces, providing customers with new experiences and values as a platform,' and expressed hope that 'the space, tech, and content-centered retail innovation presented by Hyundai Department Store will be further expanded through this CEO conference.'