A store that rings with laughter. Welcome to ARITAUM Seonsa Happy Store, where both Beauty Advisors and customers are happy. Kim Kye-seung is the manager of this happy store. She won gold prize in the sales drive category at last year's in-house innovation contest, the ABC Awards, and was chosen this year as an outstanding store manager at the 70th anniversary celebrations of AMOREPACIFIC. She radiates a feeling of kindness and positive energy that makes you feel like visiting her store. But, her feet tell the story of her constant running to keep up with customers' needs and her ongoing determination to serve customers well.

The life of Kim changed completely in November 2008, when she made a fresh start as the manager of ARITAUM store, after working as a bank teller over 16 years. She opened the store at her husband's suggestion. At that time, she had no interest in cosmetics. She sometimes wore lipstick, but had no idea that there were so many different kinds of makeup products.

"I struggled a lot at the beginning. I didn't even know what blusher was. I worked hard, but couldn't hit my sales targets, which hurt my pride. Whatever I did, I wanted to do it right and this was no different. I had known about the importance of customer management ever since I worked at the bank. It was for this reason that I focused on approaching customers in the best way."

To connect with customers effectively, she had to fully arm herself with kindness. She focused very much on meeting customers, including by saving the time when she was away from the store and so customers wouldn't be able to come in. She didn't leave the store, even after her work was over. One whole hour after closing. This is the amount of time she invested in remembering each and every customer. She memorized customers' names and which products they purchased. This is how she kept an active interest in every single customer. Thanks to her efforts at good service, customers often say that they have no choice but to come to her store.

"Marathon is not something we can master in one day. I think the same goes for customer management. I remember the name of 1,000 loyal customers and their features. Now that there are many convenient ways to do home shopping and online shopping, I always think of what can I do to make customers come and revisit the store."

The solution she found for getting customers to revisit the store was ARI Touch. The ARITAUM Seonsa Happy Store provides all three services: Brow Touch, Nail Touch and Skin Touch.

She chose to adopt this solution in order to make the ARITAUM Seonsa Happy Store a professional total care center, rather than just a run-of-the-mill cosmetics shop.

Thanks to her interest and heartfelt effort, ARITAUM Seonsa Happy Store has grown in its presence and influence, even though it is only a small store located in a quiet place. In other words, customers come here from far and wide. There was a time when the store had it tough due to new rival stores opening. But, she remodeled the store to better handle the flow of customer traffic, which led to a 21% increase in the number of active customers, a 50% increase in the share of customers aged in their 20s and a 53% increase in the sales of makeup products. Plus, the store has rate of members rejoining for VIP membership that's twice as high as the average. The number of VIP customers increased every year and achieved a milestone of a 131% increase over 2012.

Though the store was rated high in all categories, she did not rest on her laurels. She made up for what the store lacked and managed to improve customer satisfaction. As a result, she managed to record a splendid achievement of being first in the 2014 Net Promoter Score survey.

But, it took more than hard work and effort to become a first-class manager. She actively participated in training programs and workshops, as well as the ARITAUM manager program, the ABC Club, to learn knowhow of other outstanding stores and reinvent herself as a beauty expert. Now, other managers come to her for advice.

"ARITAUM managers are not rivals against each other, but pacemakers that keep each other running to the finish line. We understand our difficulties better than anyone else does. I learned a lot through the ARITAUM manager mentor-mentee program. I now have mentee of my own and our relationship is about much more than just teaching knowhow."

Kim has so far accomplished much, but she's not there yet. "I have not yet finished the race," she said. ARITAUM Seonsa Happy Store is still running its own happy marathon.