Apple is opening its fifth retail store in South Korea this Friday, and the company has enlisted K-pop girl band NewJeans to woo the country’s users, reports Bloomberg.
K-pop girl band NewJeans
The new store will be located in the central Gangnam district of Seoul, the capital city of South Korea, and in a promotional event on Wednesday, Apple set up a pop-up studio inside the new store where visitors could listen to an exclusive version of NewJean’s hit song “OMG” recorded in spatial audio.
The marketing strategy of involving a K-pop band isn’t new in South Korea – Samsung has a BTS edition of its Galaxy S20+ smartphone there – with such collaborations often going viral online.
As Bloomberg notes, the move is another signal that Apple is ramping up its post-pandemic offensive in the key Asian growth market. Apple Pay went live in South Korea earlier this month, and local media reports that there are plans in place to open a sixth store in Seoul this year. The capital would then have more Apple Stores than there are in Tokyo, Japan.
Apple Gangnam is Apple’s first new retail store to open since Apple American Dream opened in New Jersey in December. Apple now has a retail team of nearly 800 on the ground in South Korea, according to Patrick Schuerpf, director of Apple’s retail business in Asia.
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