[THE INVESTOR] Hyundai Department Store announced on Sept. 11 that it has appointed Chung Joo-yeon, a former marketing director of Hermes Korea, as the head of its new home furnishing business unit.

The Korean department store chain recently set up the new division, Living Contents, which looks into business opportunities in the burgeoning home furnishing market. 

“We are still in the initial stage of gauging the business potential. In the long term, we aim to make products under our own brand name,” a company spokesperson told The Investor.

Before joining Hyundai, Chung, 46, worked for a slew of luxury brands such as Guerlain, Hermes and Breguet mostly overseeing marketing in Korea.

The new appointment comes as Hyundai Department Store is making a big push on its nascent home furnishing business. Despite its slowing store sales overall, its interior related sales have increased about 20 percent every year.

Early this year, the firm signed an exclusive distribution contract with US consumer retail chain Williams Sonoma. On Sept. 7, the firm also opened a home furnishing multi-brand shop that sells products from popular furniture brands such as UK’s Savior Beds, Italy’s Cassina and Guby of Denmark.

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)