Korea: The Heart and Seoul of retail?
At the start of December Ben and Iain spent time in Seoul as a guest of adidas, attending a global retail design meeting. What followed was not just a fascinating coming together of minds focused on the future of the adidas, but a firsthand look at one of the most ambitious and experience-led retail cultures in the world, and a rethink of what physical retail can be.
​The location was deliberate. South Korea has become one of the most active and ambitious retail markets in the world, and Seoul sits right at the centre of that momentum. If you are going to talk seriously about the future of physical retail, it makes sense to do it somewhere that is already operating at the sharp edge. Here Ben talks of his impressions of Seoul and what we can learn.
First Impressions of the City
It was my first visit to Seoul, and I arrived with some expectations. Technology-led, highly developed, forward-thinking. In many ways, it delivered exactly that. But what stood out almost immediately was how much further it went. The city felt young in its outlook, confident in its identity, and comfortable with change.
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Rather more surprisingly, there was a warmth to the place too. You imagine places buried in technology to be a little soulless, but I was wrong in both how people interacted and how the city itself felt to move through.
The trip itself was short. Three days for me, with Iain staying on for an extra day to take in more of the cultural side of the city (lucky b*****). Even in that timeframe, it was obvious that Seoul operates on a different scale. It is a true 24-hour city, with constant movement and activity. With a population of around 23 million, it feels vast, growing, and intensely alive in a way that is difficult to compare directly with European capitals.
Seeing retail more like an Art Gallery with a gift shop
Before arriving, I assumed the retail environment would mirror the best examples we see across Europe. Flagship stores, strong brand identities, well rounded spaces.
What I was not prepared for was the depth of investment and the commitment to experience. There were environments where you could walk in and not immediately know what was being sold. That ambiguity seemed intentional. The store itself was the experience, with the product becoming part of the journey rather than the starting point. Think of it like an art gallery with a gift shop – you wouldn’t necessarily go to buy something at the end, but the experience left you as part of the brand.
For someone who has spent their life working in and around retail, this was a genuine shift in perspective. There was a sense of optimism running through everything. Ideas felt enabled rather than constrained. It was easy to imagine conversations where the default response was how something could be achieved, rather than why it should not be. The confidence in physical retail was unmistakable.
Embracing Social Media as Infrastructure
A significant part of this confidence is rooted in how retail and social media intersect. Many of the spaces we visited were clearly designed with sharing in mind. Content creators were everywhere, filming, photographing, and documenting their visits. From a retailer’s point of view, the store is not just a sales environment but a marketing platform. The physical investment feeds directly into online reach, engagement, and ultimately sales beyond the store itself.
What struck me most was how social retail felt.
Groups of friends, particularly younger people, were spending hours moving between stores, treating them as places to meet, explore, and spend time together. Queues formed not for specific products, but for the chance to experience the space. While not everyone inside was buying, enough people were to make this model clearly viable.
A Fair Comparison with Europe?
Comparisons with Europe are inevitable, but they need to be fair. Seoul is a global capital operating at the top of its game. If you place it alongside cities like London, Barcelona, or Rome, the difference is not quality, but intent.
Visitors in Seoul seem to be looking for a reason to be there beyond the purchase itself. The experience is the draw, and the transaction follows naturally.
It would be easy to assume that Seoul’s level of spectacle feels artificial, but that was not my experience. The city felt safe, polite, and genuinely welcoming. Store staff were engaged and knowledgeable, and the environments felt purposeful rather than theatrical for the sake of it.
Don’t get me wrong European retail still delivers incredible experiences, but in Seoul, the ambition is simply operating at a different scale.
Korean Spaces That Redefined Expectations
Some environments left a lasting impression. Haus Nowhere was the defining example of this on this trip with its 20-meter sleeping dachshund dog breathing, twitching stood out as a space that felt closer to an art installation than a traditional retail store, while still functioning commercially. The level of interaction here was insane, an installation simply to start conversation.
The eyewear brand Blue Elephant offered a similar sense of immersion, with queues stretching outside the door despite many visitors clearly being there for the experience rather than the product. Even so, the level of engagement suggested strong conversion.
Global brands were not standing still either. An architecturally striking adidas store, recognised with international awards, demonstrated what happens when brands commit fully to space and form.
Luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton leaned heavily into their heritage, but amplified it, turning familiar narratives into something far more immersive and dialled up.
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What this trip has left us thinking
For us at LEAP, this trip was not about copying extreme gestures or chasing spectacle. That is not our role. What it did reinforce is that far more is possible than we sometimes allow ourselves to consider.
If a client wants to push further, the challenge becomes how to engineer that ambition, how to deliver it safely, intelligently, and within real-world constraints. That way of thinking has stayed with me.
The broader lesson extends beyond retail. People increasingly choose how they spend their time based on experiences. Museums, exhibitions, cultural events. Retail in Seoul has embraced that shift completely. The product still matters, but Seoul is proof it does not always need to be front and centre.
What is holding Europe back?
There are obvious questions around cost, rent, and risk. Interestingly, many of the products on sale in Seoul were not premium priced. They were accessible.
This challenges the idea that experience led retail only works at the top end of the market. Perhaps what is missing is not feasibility, but confidence. It may only take one retailer willing to lead for others to follow.
So will we see a giant sleeping dog on Regent Street in the next 10 years?
Will we see something like this on Regent Street within the next decade? (…with a long pause…) I think we will. I am optimistic. The appetite for experience is already there. It simply needs the right environment to surface.
If the trip to Seoul reinforced anything, it is that retail is far from finished. In some parts of the world, it is evolving at pace, finding new ways to connect, engage, and inspire. Seeing that firsthand does not just influence how you think about stores. It changes how you think about possibility and the social meaning of retail spaces.
At LEAP, we spend our time turning ideas into physical spaces, balancing ambition with delivery, and making sure what gets imagined can actually be built. It's amazing how many people have not believed the images that I've posted on LinkedIn of share directly, believing they are AI generated when they're actually 100% genuine, I think that says it all.
You see, trips like this do not give us answers, but they sharpen the questions, and they continue to shape how we think about what is possible for the brands and spaces we work on every day.
Next for me on the list? Japan has always appealed, also you can’t ignore the powerhouse that Chinese retail is. Regardless, wherever I end up next one thing is sure – truly great retail spaces still connect people, drive conversation and are vital for consumer brand growth.
