In the societal shift where consumer behavior encompasses emotional and experiential consumption, offline spaces have become crucial for active and sensory experiences in brand communication. Cosmetic flagship stores maximize marketing strategies by o...
In the societal shift where consumer behavior encompasses emotional and experiential consumption, offline spaces have become crucial for active and sensory experiences in brand communication. Cosmetic flagship stores maximize marketing strategies by offering diverse experiential spaces for brand image, identity building, and enhancing purchase intentions. In line with this trend, there has been growing interest in beauty tech within the beauty sector.
Beautytech, a fusion of 'beauty' and 'technology,' is predominantly manifested through products such as applications and home devices but is also utilized as an element of spatial experience. Consequently, the utilization of beauty tech in cosmetic flagship stores necessitates discussion as a means to enhance consumer experiences beyond conventional approaches.
Cosmetic flagship stores integrating beauty tech should not merely exhibit products but rather create spaces for new experiences, facilitating active communication with consumers. Such spaces should continuously engage consumers experientially and be designed as user-centric environments.
This paper, first, through theoretical exploration of flagship stores and experience design, seeks to comprehend spatial components of flagship stores and attributes of experience design. Subsequently, it aims to investigate how consumers perceive and understand flagship stores incorporating beauty tech. Through an integrated mixed-method approach combining quantitative and qualitative research, survey analysis, and one-on-one in-depth interviews, the study analyzes the sequential experiences consumers undergo at the research site and their perception of beautytech.
The findings from the survey identify the highest and lowest-rated aspects of the research site, spatial elements, and experiential design elements. The 1:1 in-depth interviews revealed consumer intentions to visit, emotional responses to beauty tech experiences, and related aspects. The conclusions drawn from this study are organized into practical implications and academic contributions.
From a practical perspective, the study suggests stimulating non-routine experiences and dynamism followed by interaction, sensorial, and associative stimulation in the order of experience design attributes. Moreover, enhancing sensorial and interactive aspects within experiential spaces is essential, while evoking associative stimulation in flagship store spatial components for differentiation. From an academic standpoint, this research contributes a paradigm model that can serve as foundational evidence for the design conception and proposal of beauty tech applied in flagship stores.
The significance of this research lies in its analysis, not merely of the placement of beauty devices and applications in the space but also in the qualitative and quantitative examination of the experiential design of research subjects where beautytech-enabled experiences and products are applied. However, the limitation of this study lies in its exclusive focus on brands by Amorepacific Corporation, a leading entity in beauty tech development. Thus, future research, in alignment with the growth of the beauty tech market, necessitates broader comparative analysis encompassing cosmetic flagship stores of entirely different companies for more extensive exploration.