Hyundai Motor Studio Retail Model

Designing an immersive, culturally inspired retail experience

Hyundai Motor Studio Retail Model Image

The Hyundai Motor Company see ‘service’ not ‘sales’ as the basis of valuable customer relationships and truly believe that if they give people a great experience they will buy more.

The Challenge

The Hyundai Motor Company was determined to be the world’s best for service in the automotive industry; an industry not usually synonymous with great customer service. The challenge, was to create a flagship cultural space in Seoul, one that communicates the values of the brand and reflects the needs and expectations of a younger, wealthier market.

The outcomes

The Engine Service Design team helped Hyundai Motor Company imagine and design a ground-breaking experience for their new retail model, Hyundai Motor Studio in Gangnam. Once open, the site had 200,000 visitors in the first 18 months, over four times what had been expected. The retail model has since been expanded worldwide.

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Creating memorable moments for car enthusiasts

We built on Engine’s deep knowledge of the Hyundai Motor Company’s brand, from a previous engagement in Seoul, leveraging spaces and technology to create “memorable moments” in their six-story site, encapsulating the modern and premium values of the brand.

This included the creation of an art exhibition space and library for the store, where visitors have access to rare collections of books about cars, making it a ‘go-to’ place for any car enthusiast.

Customers enjoy a unique experience configuring their car, including access to technology that helps them understand the build quality of Hyundai’s vehicles. The brand space also hosts events for customers to meet and connect with engineers, designers and car racers from Hyundai Motors.



Redesigning service for a younger customer base

The greatest challenge was to redesign the role and approach of the Hyundai Motor Company’s retail staff, adapting the staffing model, management and approach to customer service to better serve a younger customer base. This had to be done whilst retaining the more conservative but vitally important traditions that their success had been built upon. The Engine Service Design team worked with sales staff at the company to define (and negotiate) the new roles and behaviours that were needed to draw in the younger and increasingly wealthy audience – a vital outcome for the business.


The ‘rallying cry’ needed to shift the culture of retail service

The ‘Serve With Pride’ customer service model was a strong driver for the expansion of the Motor Studio brand experience.

The confidence of senior executives and internal stakeholders soared following the success of the Hyundai Motor Studio on Dosan Street (an area in the downtown commercial area of Seoul, synonymous with luxury automotive retail). This allowed Engine to work with the Hyundai Motor Company team to move forwards much faster, using it as a laboratory to further develop the service model.

“Most significantly we’ve been able to create a cultural space, one that communicates the values of the Hyundai Motor Company Brand and reflects the needs and expectations of a younger market.”

 

Impact

“We were able to put great investment into service, establishing the ‘Serve With Pride’ model for our retail staff and developing the new ‘Guru’ role, which is very different from how service has always been delivered in our retail stores.”

200,000 visitors in the first 18 months, over four times what had been expected.

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