Press Release

On May 20, Doosan Corporation announced that it has opened its Doota Duty Free Store at Doosan Tower, an iconic shopping complex of Dongdaemun, as it ushers in a new era of duty-free shopping in Dongdaemun. For the pre-opening, the store features more than 500 brands on seven floors at Doosan Tower. There are nine floors altogether designated for the store, covering an area of 16,825 square meters. Each floor is indicated as D1 to D9, using the “D” initial. All the remaining areas, including the two floors under construction, will open before August this year. Floor D1 features cosmetics and perfume from the global Big 4 brands (Estee Lauder, Loreal, LVMH, LG) while Floor D2, scheduled to open in July, is designated for luxury watch and jewelry brands. Floor D6 houses sunglasses, jewelry and various practical accessory brands while each floor from D7 to D9 is designed under the concepts of D-Fashion, D-Beauty and D-Mart, respectively. Floor D7 houses select shops featuring unique items made by rising, young Korean designers to help promote homegrown brands to foreign visitors and transform them into global brands. Floor D8 contains all types of beauty-related products sold at a drugstore. Korea’s first market-type duty-free store is located on floor D9, where inbound tourists can purchase must-buy items related to living, home appliances, health and food, alcohol and more in a “one-stop shop.” A “Descendants of the Sun” Hall on floor D3 vividly re-creates sets from the TV drama, offering visitors a unique photo-shoot experience in thematic photo zones as well as a chance to buy souvenirs and merchandise. On floor D4, a K-Culture Hall is designed to expose visitors to Korean traditional culture such as hanbok (traditional dress) and craftworks. On the day of the opening, the online duty-free store (www.dootadutyfree.com) also opened both in Korean and Chinese, and a mobile app will be released in June to allow tourists to more conveniently shop online while they are on the move. Doota Duty Free Store also provides free Wi-Fi service to tourists at Doota Plaza, Doota Mall and the Doota Duty Free Store. Doota Duty Free Store is hosting a variety of events to attract inbound tourists and raise its brand awareness. As part of the opening event, all the visitors were presented with a balloon owl, the Doota Duty Free Store’s character. Moreover, those who took a photo in front of the large owl character installed at the gate received a lucky bag randomly packed with items sold at D-Beauty. Depending on the purchasing amount, customers received various signature items, including a luggage strap, folding bag and jewelry box emblazoned with the Doota owl character design. Doota Duty Free Store is Korea’s first duty-free store that remains open into the nighttime, from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m., depending on the floor. Incentives provided to night shoppers include transportation cost support and an additional 5 percent discount. Doota Duty Free Store features Song Joong-ki, the lead actor of “Descendants of the Sun” who has risen to superstardom both in Korea and China, in its marketing campaign. A behind-the-scenes video of the campaign’s photo shoot has been released through its official SNS accounts both inside and outside Korea. The ads are also posted on the websites of major travel agencies in China, including C-Trip, Qunar and Mafengwo. Doota Duty Free Store has signed an agreement with 72 travel agencies to bring inbound tourists to the shopping mall, which takes effect on May 20. The company also plans to attract large Chinese tour groups that are scheduled to visit Korea after June and help reinvigorate the local business of Dongdaemun. To reach out to free independent travelers (FITs), who make up a large portion of travelers in Dongdaemun, the company is promoting the Doota Duty Free Store through various means, including banners around the store, outdoor digital video ads, voice ads in nearby subway stations, and ads on city tour buses and intra-city buses. To attract Chinese VIP customers, Doota Duty Free also is providing limousine and shuttle bus services in affiliation with casinos. A duty-free store lobby, help desk, money exchange booth, baby stroller rentals and lockers are situated on the ground floor of the Doota Duty Free Store to offer a more enjoyable shopping experience to visitors. The sky lounge on floor D10 offers not only the most spacious lounge among the city’s duty-free stores but is also equipped with high-end facilities to make shopping more enjoyable. There are four elevators designated for duty-free store customers, running from the underground parking lot to all the way up to the highest level of the duty-free store, floor D10. The parking lot inside Doosan Tower can accommodate over 900 cars while more than 110 bus parking spaces are reserved for buses outside the building. Under the integrated brand identity of Doota, its unique visual motifs and colors have been applied to Doota Duty Free Store and Doota Mall. A reinterpretation of Korean design elements (dot, line, surface and material) has been applied to the interior design of the duty-free store, and the translucent floor and lights in Doota Plaza have caught the eyes of many foreign tourists. Situated in Dongdaemun, Doota Duty Free is committed to carrying out a wide range of programs to promote “win-win growth” with local businesses and tap into the regional advantage, including the rich tourism infrastructure. The Dongdaemun Future Foundation, established last year, has provided free Chinese classes to local merchants. Various marketing programs scheduled to take place include the “365 Fashion Show” and a joint Dongdaemun marketing campaign to be held in partnership with the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), which are expected to help promote the Dongdaemun area. Prior to the official opening, officials of Doosan’s duty-free business, including Hyunsoo Dong, president of Doosan Corporation; CW John Lee, executive vice president and Duty-free BG director; and Seowon Park, senior vice president and CSO of Doosan Corporation, gathered at Doota Plaza to celebrate the opening of the duty-free store. After the brief ceremony, help desk and in-store employees chanted “Here Only Doota!” the customer service commitment and brand slogan of Doota, in the lobby as they greeted their first customers entering the store. “In the meantime, we will focus on stabilizing the duty-free business and continue to attract more brands into the store to offer a wider range of products and services to customers,” said an official of Doota Duty Free. “We will do our best to make Doota Duty Free Store the landmark of Dongdaemun when we have a grand opening in the second half of this year.”