AK Plaza and AK& Brand Names Unified... "Strengthening Brand Power"

by Lim Chunhan

Published 24 May.2021 07:45(KST)

AK Plaza logo.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chunhan] AK Plaza announced on the 24th that it will unify the brand name of its currently operated community-friendly shopping mall AK& under the name AK Plaza. Accordingly, AK Plaza will reorganize its business structure into two divisions: ‘AK Plaza Department Store’ and ‘AK Plaza Shopping Mall’.

AK Plaza will officially begin brand unification starting with the opening of the shopping mall scheduled for October this year in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province, under the name AK Plaza Gwangmyeong Branch. The existing AK& branches ▲Hongdae ▲Giheung ▲Sejong currently in operation plan to change their brand names to AK Plaza by early 2022. Additionally, the shopping mall scheduled to open in May 2022 in Geumjeong, Gyeonggi Province, will also open as AK Plaza Geumjeong Branch.

This BI unification decision originated from a customer-oriented perspective. Taking BI unification as an opportunity, AK Plaza plans to expand the brand awareness and competitiveness of the AK Plaza Department Store division to the shopping mall sector and strengthen marketing capabilities to enhance customers’ quality of life. To this end, AK Plaza presents daily premium, which offers customers a special everyday experience, as a core value and plans to expand its provision across all distribution areas of AK Plaza. Daily premium is AK Plaza’s key slogan for 2021, meaning to provide customers with specialness in their daily lives through AK Plaza. In particular, it aims to deliver value beyond shopping through ▲respecting diverse customer tastes and expanding experiences ▲focusing on the essence of service ▲strengthening environmental and local community activities.

AK Plaza is making comprehensive efforts both online and offline to deliver concrete value to customers. AK Plaza and AK& focus on the strengths unique to offline stores by offering special experiences based on innovative store compositions. The online comprehensive shopping mall AK Mall continues promotions to respect customers’ tastes and provide diverse experiences.

AK Plaza is strengthening environmental and local community activities by carrying out the ‘Return to Green Campaign.’ This campaign, which began in 2018 as an eco-friendly initiative, expanded its activities in earnest in 2019 by creating the Aekyung Forest in the wildfire-affected areas of Gangwon Province. Moving forward, AK Plaza plans to continue related activities by linking with elementary schools in major branch areas to create classroom forests that reduce fine dust.

Kim Jaecheon, CEO of AK Plaza, said, “The BI unification of AK Plaza this time is not merely about unifying the brand name but a determination to expand AK Plaza’s presence in the distribution industry through brand strengthening. We will also continue to develop the existing department store business area to offer the value of daily premium to more customers’ lives.”