Garmin announced on the 5th that it has officially opened its first brand store at Lotte Hi-Mart Jamsil to strengthen its consumer presence through domestic offline distribution channels. While Garmin has focused its sales primarily online and in specialty stores, the company is pursuing a strategy of expanding brand awareness through easily accessible large-scale home appliance retailers.

Garmin launched a pilot brand store at Lotte Hi-Mart's Jamsil branch in December of last year, and will officially launch on the 6th. The store is designed with an experience-focused approach, allowing consumers to personally inspect products and test their features.

The brand hall will showcase Garmin's core sports and leisure product lines, including the Venue, Instinct, Tactics, Forerunner, and Phoenix series smartwatches, as well as the Edge GPS cycling computer, Rally power meter, and Approach series golf devices. Garmin explains that the brand is showcasing a diverse range of products tailored to different uses and environments, all in one space.
To celebrate the official launch of its brand store, Garmin is also offering a limited-quantity promotion for some products. The running GPS smartwatch 'Forerunner 265' will be sold at a discounted price during the event period, and will end when stocks run out.

Nelson Chen, General Manager of Garmin Korea, said, “Opening a store at Lotte Hi-Mart will allow us to get closer to our customers’ daily lives and introduce Garmin products directly to them,” and “We will expand the range of choices for consumers by providing a space where they can experience a variety of devices, including not only smartwatches but also golf, outdoor, and cycling devices.”

Through this brand hall operation, Garmin plans to expand offline experience opportunities and strengthen its distribution strategy to convey product characteristics and usage purposes on-site.