The Beginning of Personalized Shopping: From Skin to Scalp｜What ChoiceDx at Olive Young Sejong Naseong Reveals About the Expansion of K-Beauty

ChoiceDx

Sep 4

8 min read

Even with the convenience of online shopping, consumers still visit physical stores for one clear reason: they can experience things firsthand. More shoppers are also moving away from blindly following whatever is trending and toward making smarter decisions based on data about their own bodies.

That is one reason Olive Young Sejong Naseong, located in one of Sejong’s key commercial districts near the Government Complex and frequently visited by young professionals, deserves attention.

Sejong Naseong: a beauty store where customers can look at their own condition before looking at cosmetics

A commercial district planned as a city center is now creating reasons to stay

The commercial district of Naseong-dong was designed from the beginning as one long, connected urban organism. From the restaurant district through Urban Atrium P1–P5, the planned department-store site and City Symbol Plaza, the area forms a continuous commercial axis through Sejong’s new downtown.

It was built under an ambitious plan to create a new heart for the administrative city, with commercial, cultural and pedestrian spaces closely connected.

But scale alone does not make people stay.

Like many new-town commercial districts, Naseong-dong has also faced practical challenges such as vacancies and the need to activate street-level retail. In response, the area has experimented with flea markets, car-free streets, events around City Symbol Plaza and outdoor food-street concepts. In 2026, an AI convergence startup incubation space and a designated startup street have also been discussed as projects that could reshape the district’s commercial character.

Discovering the power of everyday spaces over landmarks

That is why the most interesting question is not simply, “What new hardware has been built here?”

It is:

“What gives people a reason to return and spend time in this district?”

The long-term energy of a commercial district is often driven not by one enormous landmark, but by places people use repeatedly in everyday life.

A store they stop by after lunch. A place to pick up essentials on the way home from work. Somewhere to browse new trends on the weekend without a specific shopping mission.

Located at 284 Hannuri-daero, Olive Young Sejong Naseong fits naturally into that rhythm and functions as a strong lifestyle anchor within the district.

A retail space where customers discover more than what they came to buy

Olive Young is fundamentally a beauty retailer, but the customer experience inside the store goes well beyond a single purchase.

Someone who walks in for a cleanser may notice a new sunscreen brand. A customer comparing shampoos may encounter scalp tonics for the first time. Skincare connects naturally to dermocosmetics, while haircare leads into body and wellness.

This journey of discovery is one of Olive Young’s strongest retail differentiators.

When a new beauty trend or product enters the market, Olive Young does more than place it on a shelf. It reorganizes newness into categories customers can intuitively understand, turning it into a shopping experience that is easier to compare, explore and discover.

ChoiceDx Skin Analysis and Scalp Analysis at Olive Young Sejong Naseong

From haircare to scalp care: data shows how beauty is diversifying

The shift in scalp care has been especially fast.

According to Olive Young’s 2025 sale data, searches for scalp ampoules, tonics and serums increased by more than 80% year over year.

That number reflects a broader change. Haircare, once centered largely on cleansing and conditioning, is becoming more sophisticated and segmented—closer to the way consumers already think about facial skincare.

At Olive Young Sejong Naseong, that market shift goes beyond the product shelf.

Customers are able not only to discover a new category, but also to check their own skin and scalp condition through data before deciding what to explore next.

Two starting points: a customer-centered, flexible journey

What makes Olive Young Sejong Naseong distinctive is not simply that it has one more device than another store.

Its real value is that the customer journey now has two possible starting points.

The store includes one ChoiceDx Skin Analysis system and one ChoiceDx Scalp Analysis system, developed by ChoiceTech Korea. Among the seven major locations photographed for this Retail Story project, Sejong Naseong is the only one confirmed to have both skin and scalp analysis infrastructure.

This is interesting because the experience does not force every customer through the same predetermined sequence.

If someone needs help exploring skincare that day, they can begin with facial skin analysis.

If they came in because of seasonal scalp concerns and are looking at shampoo or scalp tonics, they can start with the scalp instead.

Rather than making every visitor complete a long Skin → Scalp journey, the store allows people to begin with the area where they feel the strongest need at that moment.

A sustainable retail experience that matches the rhythm of Naseong-dong

This flexibility works particularly well in a neighborhood-based commercial district like Naseong-dong, where a large share of traffic comes from customers who may return regularly.

Unlike an airport or destination mall, there is no need to complete every possible experience in one visit.

A customer may check their facial skin this time, then return during a seasonal change when scalp flaking becomes more noticeable and choose Scalp Analysis instead.

That creates the possibility of a more organic, repeatable relationship with the store.

With ChoiceDx embedded in the retail environment, technology does not need to stand at the center of attention.

Instead, it becomes part of the customer’s normal lifestyle cycle—a form of sustainable, repeatable data experience within offline retail.

How a technical idea like “skin analysis” becomes intuitive in-store

So what does AI-powered skin analysis actually look at?

ChoiceDx is an AI skin, scalp and hair analysis solution brand developed and operated by ChoiceTech Korea.

According to the official Measurement page, ChoiceDx skin analysis combines high-resolution imaging and optical data to evaluate up to ten categories on Dx-Smart and Dx-Prime, including moisture, oil, wrinkles, pores, sebum, skin tone, spots, pigmentation, redness/sensitivity and skin texture/keratin condition.

The terminology may sound technical, but the in-store use case is surprisingly intuitive.

A customer may look in the mirror and simply think, “My makeup hasn’t been sitting well lately.”

If analysis helps them notice low moisture or uneven surface condition, the shopping journey can immediately become more focused. Instead of searching for the number-one cream, they may head toward hydration or texture-care categories first.

If sebum is the bigger concern, cleansing or pore-care products may become more relevant.

The role of AI analysis is not to force one specific product choice.

It gives customers a clear starting point for where to begin shopping in a store filled with thousands of options.

The broader the assortment, the more valuable that small shift can become.

Skincare is chosen with data. Why is haircare still so often chosen by instinct?

Scalp analysis makes the retail-tech story even more interesting.

Most consumers carefully consider moisture, oil balance and pores when choosing facial skincare. Yet when they stand in front of shampoos or scalp products, decisions often fall back on broad labels such as “for oily scalp,” “for damaged hair,” or simply “this smells good.”

ChoiceDx addresses that blind spot.

Depending on the system configuration, scalp and hair analysis can cover scalp oil, sebum, flakes/dandruff, sensitivity, hair density, hair thickness, shine, damage, gray hair and visible hair-loss-related characteristics.

Dx-Smart and Dx-Prime support up to nine scalp and hair categories, while Dx-Pico supports up to ten.

The role of AI is the same here.

It does not turn a vague feeling such as “my scalp seems worse lately” into an alarming medical diagnosis.

Instead, it helps generate objective and specific information that can start a more useful haircare conversation.

Are flakes particularly visible? Does the scalp appear oily? Is the customer interested in tracking hair density or thickness over time?

ChoiceDx does not replace medical diagnosis. Its official guidance clearly positions the analysis as retail and consultation information for understanding current skin and scalp condition, not as a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment.

But as a compass for navigating a physical beauty store, it can provide a practical reference point.

What happens after analysis: the retailer’s assortment creates the synergy

If an AI analysis system simply displayed a result screen and stopped there, the business value of placing sophisticated hardware inside a retail store would be limited.

The real synergy between Olive Young and ChoiceDx appears after the analysis.

Customers concerned about facial skin immediately have access to a wide spectrum of skincare brands and categories.

Customers who become more aware of scalp concerns can compare functional shampoos, scalp tonics, ampoules and related products within the same physical environment.

Technology and retailer do not need to perform the same role.

ChoiceDx generates objective data that helps the customer understand their current condition.

Olive Young opens up a broad landscape of brands and products to explore next.

The quality of staff consultation can also change.

Instead of:

“What product is good for the scalp?”

the conversation can become:

“Oil and flaking were the areas I noticed most. Which category should I compare first?”

When data enters the conversation, vague questions become more precise.

That is why strong Beauty Tech does not necessarily replace human consultation.

It can make the conversation between people more precise, more useful and more meaningful.

From K-Beauty to K-Wellness: the territory is expanding globally

The combined Skin + Scalp journey at Sejong Naseong is not only a local retail story.

According to data released by Olive Young Global Mall, international demand for hair ampoules and scalp-care products has grown rapidly, while wellness categories such as massage and relaxation have expanded alongside them.

The change suggests that international interest is widening from individual K-Beauty products to a broader K-Wellness and K-Lifestyle ecosystem.

Olive Young’s own retail trend outlook points in the same direction.

The rise of holistic wellness centered on managing the “whole self,” together with AI-driven hyper-personalized beauty concierge services, signals a broader change in what customers expect from beauty retail.

Beauty categories are becoming more detailed, while customers increasingly expect data to help them find what is relevant to them.

There is little reason for personalization to stop at facial skincare.

The boundary is already moving into scalp, hair and body care.

Beyond one-time trials: the value of “return data”

At an airport or major tourism location, the goal may be to make one interaction fast and memorable.

A lifestyle district like Sejong Naseong calls for a different metric.

Instead of only asking:

“How many people used the analyzer today?”

the more valuable question may be:

“How many customers came back to check their changes?”

Skin and scalp are not static.

Seasons change. Product routines change. Lifestyle changes.

A customer who chose Skin Analysis on one visit may return during a seasonal transition and choose Scalp Analysis next time.

Retailers can also observe what product categories customers visit after analysis and whether the experience leads to more specific staff consultations.

There is a big difference between a one-time novelty and a service people have a reason to revisit as part of their routine.

For neighborhood retail, long-term value is more likely to come from the latter.

When a retailer that understands the neighborhood meets technology that expands the analysis range

ChoiceTech Korea’s message from the Olive Young Sejong Naseong case is not simply:

“We successfully installed two devices.”

Naseong-dong was planned as a major city-center commercial district, yet it continues to evolve through local experiments designed to give people more reasons to stay, return and circulate.

Within that environment, Olive Young functions as a lifestyle platform where customers can discover skincare, haircare, body and wellness as part of everyday life.

ChoiceDx opens another intelligent entry point into that journey:

see your own real condition before exploring products.

If skin is the priority, begin with Skin Analysis.

If scalp and hair concerns come first, begin with Scalp Analysis.

Once customers pass through that data-based entry point, they enter the area Olive Young does especially well: broad product comparison and personalized curation.

As K-Beauty becomes part of mainstream global retail, the next competitive advantage is not simply showing overseas consumers which cosmetics are currently popular in Seoul.

Korean beauty retail is increasingly exporting the shopping mechanism itself:

check your own data → narrow your area of interest → compare multiple independent brands → experience products directly.

The Skin + Scalp infrastructure at Olive Young Sejong Naseong is a practical example of what that future can look like inside an everyday neighborhood retail environment.