The Shilla Duty Free (Shilla) is hosting what it claims is the first-ever metaverse beauty class in travel retail.

The event with Gucci Beauty takes place today (2 December) on metaverse platform ZEP at 18:00 (Seoul time).

To mark the occasion, Shilla has opened an exclusive Gucci Beauty Garden where visitors can create their own avatars to explore the Gucci Beauty house and the garden itself, while experiencing a range of Gucci Beauty products.

Attendees can also view beauty classes in real time, ask questions or chat with other visitors for an immersive experience.

Makeup artist Park Sang-eun together with former SBS announcer Jang Ye-won and beauty influencer Kim Bo-ra will introduce Gucci’s new Flora Collection.

Following the advice of Park, one hundred pre-selected VIPs will be able to trial products that have been sent to their homes in advance.

Additional giveaways

Those who weren’t pre-selected can still access the event on The Shilla Duty Free’s website, mobile and via the company’s YouTube channel.

Up to 1,000 viewers of the beauty class who visit the metaverse beauty garden on the Shilla’s website or via mobile will receive gift cards for Starbucks.

Additional giveaways and other benefits for participants who purchase Gucci Beauty products after the event will be made available by The Shilla Duty Free.

On 28 November, The Shilla Duty Free inked an MOU with an art-tech firm focused on metaverse content to create a metaverse studio as the travel retailer widens its approach to digital innovation.

Kim Bo-yeon, Vice President of the e-Commerce Team at The Shilla Duty Free, said: “The contactless beauty class on the metaverse will be yet another example of an innovative beauty class.

“We will continue to make rich, immersive content based on state-of-the-art technologies through a combination of on- and off-line classes, and even a metaverse studio to chart the way forward for the industry.”

The Shilla Duty Free has held seven online beauty classes since the beginning of the pandemic, including most recently for Swiss label La Prairie.

This is an updated version of an article originally published on 2 December.