Soon-to-be newlyweds shopping for wedding gifts and household goods are becoming a fast-growing customer group at South Korea's department stores. As the industry revamps or launches wedding membership programs, couples are responding to the discounts, cashback and VIP perks on offer.
Signups for Lotte Department Store's Lotte Wedding Members rose 35% between June 17 and Sept. 30 from a year earlier, according to industry data released on the 12th. Lotte overhauled the program in June, easing eligibility requirements.
Hyundai Department Store's Club Wedding, relaunched in April, grew even faster. New enrollments from May through September jumped 163% from a year earlier. Shinsegae said signups for its Wedding Vow Club, launched on Sept. 29, are running about 20% above internal targets. Shinsegae revived the wedding membership last month after discontinuing its previous program in 2017, a nine-year gap.
The growth in membership signups outpaces the rise in marriages. Marriages nationwide totaled 146,656 in the first seven months of this year, up 6.1% from the same period a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics.
Spending is climbing along with enrollment. Sales to Lotte Wedding Members customers rose 65% over the past four months from a year earlier. Luxury goods sales gained 50%, while high-end jewelry and watches surged 90%. Furniture and home appliance sales rose 90% and 70%, respectively.
Shinsegae has also seen sales of wedding-related goods pick up since launching its club. In the first week after signups opened, sales at Shinsegae's luxury boutiques rose 43.2% from the previous week. Luxury jewelry and large home appliances gained 31.9% and 23.3% over the same period.
The industry attributes the response to couples seeking to maximize the benefits attached to what is already a major round of spending. The three leading department store operators structure their wedding memberships around returning 5% to 7% of purchases as gift certificates or points, or applying an upfront discount. Simply joining, in effect, delivers a discount of as much as 7%.
The prospect of qualifying for VIP status the following year is another draw. "Because of the nature of wedding preparations, their annual spending per customer frequently exceeds tens of millions of won," an industry official said. "Rather than splitting purchases across multiple stores, buying at a single department store means wedding preparations alone can earn VIP status for the following year, and that appears to work as an added incentive." The minimum spending threshold for VIP status is currently 5 million won ($3,400) at Shinsegae and Hyundai Department Store, and 10 million won ($6,800) at Lotte.
Viewing wedding shoppers as potential long-term customers, the stores are also strengthening lock-in strategies. At Lotte, customers whose nine-month wedding mileage accrual period ends are automatically shifted to a newlywed mileage program offering an additional nine months of rewards. Hyundai Department Store offers Club Wedding members a 50% discount on regular culture center courses and partner discounts on honeymoon bookings. Shinsegae has extended benefits to honeymoons and setting up a first home through affiliates including Shinsegae Duty Free and Shinsegae Casa.
"They may come to a department store for the first time to buy wedding gifts and household goods, but they can go on to become strong customers for children's products and parenting goods," an industry official said. "We will keep expanding the product categories, brands and benefits covered by the wedding membership."