Korean department stores race to put K-brands on shelves abroad

South Korea's major department stores, fresh off record earnings, are setting their sights overseas. Riding the global wave of K-content, they are moving beyond attracting foreign tourists visiting Korea and heading straight into consumers' home markets.

Lotte Department Store recently launched NextLab, a program to help emerging domestic fashion brands expand abroad, industry sources said Wednesday. The initiative identifies high-potential brands and supports them through overseas pop-up stores and permanent retail placements. Starting Friday, five brands will hold pop-ups at Lotte Mall West Lake Hanoi in Vietnam through the end of the year.

Shinsegae Department Store and Hyundai Department Store already operate similar platforms — Hyperground and The Hyundai Global, respectively. Shinsegae kicked off its overseas push with a pop-up at Siam Discovery mall in Bangkok in November 2023, featuring nine brands, and has since staged domestic brand pop-ups at Hankyu Umeda Department Store in Osaka (2024), Isetan Shinjuku and Shibuya 109 in Tokyo (2025), and Shibuya Scramble Square in Tokyo and Central Department Store in Bangkok (2026).

Hyundai Department Store expanded its pop-up series — which began at Shibuya Parco in Tokyo in May 2024 — to Osaka in 2025 and Nagoya in 2026. It opened a permanent store at Parco Shibuya in Tokyo in September 2025, then launched its first overseas flagship store on Omotesando in Tokyo earlier this month. The retailer has also held pop-ups in Taiwan, at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi's Taipei Xinyi Place in 2025 and at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Taichung in 2026.

All three retailers share a common approach: they validated brands domestically before scaling overseas. Shinsegae used Hyperground at its Busan Centum City store as a testing ground, while Hyundai Department Store relied on Creative Ground at The Hyundai Seoul. Lotte used Kinetic Ground at its flagship Myeong-dong store for the same purpose, treating their trendiest in-store spaces as stages for separating standout brands from the rest.

The export support platforms amount to investments with no guaranteed return. Even so, industry observers say domestic market limits are driving the push. With record numbers of foreign tourists fueling recent department store growth — and no certainty about how long that momentum will last — the retailers are taking the opposite tack: introducing K-brands directly to overseas consumers to generate demand abroad.

"It's not a business where you're simply taking a loss," one industry official said. "If you succeed in nurturing a brand that earns recognition overseas and comes home on a high, you can secure exclusive placement and other competitive content, at least for a time." Another official said, "You can expect a virtuous cycle — building good relationships with rising brands and collaborating with them over the long term."

Each retailer plans to accelerate its overseas expansion. Lotte Department Store is pursuing pop-ups at shopping complexes in Tokyo and Osaka before year-end and plans to open a dedicated retail zone at Lotte Mall West Lake Hanoi and other locations next year. Shinsegae will hold additional pop-ups in Taiwan and Japan in October and November. Hyundai Department Store is considering a phased entry into Chinese-speaking markets, including Hong Kong.