Storefront Pressroom

Storefront teams up with South-Korean leading retail firm Kcent to expand its short-term marketplace presence in Asia

It’s an exciting time for entrepreneurs, e-commerce companies and large brands in South Korea to launch pop-up stores. As retail is no longer about buying products but rather it’s about providing an experience that consumers delight in, Storefront is very happy to  build with K-Cent the future of retail by making it more engaging, more transparent and more productive.

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Storefront, the world’s largest online marketplace for short-term retail space, has officially launched in Seoul in order to make the best retail spaces in South Korea accessible to retailers’ best ideas.

It’s an exciting time for entrepreneurs, e-commerce companies and large brands in South Korea to launch pop-up stores. As retail is no longer about buying products but rather it’s about providing an experience that consumers delight in, Storefront is very happy to build with K-Cent the future of retail by making it more engaging, more transparent and more productive.

Retail vacancy rates in Korea are on the rise due to a prolonged recession, and more brands are diverting their interests from traditional retail to offer a quality experience to customers in the form of pop-up stores and short-term leases. Storefront has partnered with the Korean marketing and retail firm Kcent to register qualified spaces, sign up leading and emerging brands and give them tools to successfully market their short-term space. The Storefront innovative online maketplace will now offer plenty of spaces across Seoul available for pop-up stores, showrooms, and event spaces.

Storefront maintains a global presence with thousands of quality retail spaces across the world’s largest cities from Paris to London, New York and Hong Kong. This advantage unique global coverage any brand to pop-up in any location, test new markets and even launch simultaneously in more than one location worldwide.

Retail sales in Korea totaled $343 billion in 2016, and this latest partnership in Seoul signals Storefront’s break into this East Asian market with their brand, technology and insights combined with local talent and market expertise.

“Korea is APAC’s 3rd largest retail market, and most of it is based in Seoul. Pop-up stores and other forms of short-term rentals are already creating a buzz in the trend-savvy Korean market. All we needed was a transparent and efficient marketplace like Storefront to leverage this trend.” said Jin Yong Kim, Kcent’s CTO.

“Korea has a unique culture and language barrier that make it hard for foreign brands to expand their business here. But if they have the right partner and know how to tell their story to Korean consumers, it can be a matter of a few days before they go viral.” adds Jin.

“Storefront is redefining how companies can locate and activate temporary retail space with its global marketplace for connecting tenants and property owners in an efficient, flexible and transparent way. We are excited to partner with Kcent to bring our expertise to this fast-growing retail capital and introduce the benefits of pop-up stores to thousands of merchants looking to expand into Korea.” said Benoît Clément-Bollée, General Manager, Storefront Asia .

Examples of short-term spaces available on Storefront, in the heart of Seoul:

Expansive gallery in Gangnam-Gu

Modern pop-up store in Sungsoo

Artistic event space in the heart of Insa-dong

Trendy fashion showroom in Sungsoo

More about Storefront:

Storefront is the world’s largest marketplace for short-term retail spaces. The platform connects brands, e-commerce businesses and artists with space owners for temporary rentals. Storefront makes commercial real estate easily accessible for anyone looking to organize events and create pop-up stores around the world.

Since its launch in 2014, Storefront has supported more than 100,000 brands across the world’s largest cities, from Paris to New York to Milan, London and Hong Kong. The platform now has the largest network of commercial spaces available for short-term rental with more than 10,000 listings.

Website: www.thestorefront.com / www.thestorefront.kr

Instagram: storefront/storefront_korea

More about Kcent:

Kcent is one of the most fast-moving retail companies in Korea. They designed, produced and marketed more than five successful lifestyle brands. The company boasts a robust marketing team which runs omni-channel marketing strategy both for its own brands and for major Korean corporations including Shinsaegae Duty Free, Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) and SBS Mobidic.

Kcent is also the distributor of Adore-Swarovski in Korea, and is cooperating with various partners to expand into the real estate and IT industry.