Bondi Wash founder plants global roots with Seoul flagship store

Bondi Wash, the Australian brand renowned for transforming the power of native botanicals to elevate everyday cleaning routines, has opened its first international flagship in Seoul, South Korea. Since its inception in 2013, Bondi Wash has cultivated natural products for the home, body, baby and pets. Known for its elevated, natural formulations and distinctive native Australian scents, the brand’s latest expansion places it in one of the world’s most sophisticated retail markets.The store opened in late April in one of Korea’s most premium shopping destinations, Starfield Hanam. Heralded as a sensory sanctuary, the new flagship invites visitors to engage with Bondi Wash’s product line through a dedicated sample sink. The signature scent bar allows a hands-on interaction with the brand’s broad range of natural fragrances and formulations. “I am excited that we can introduce our distinctly Australian fragrances and natural products to Korea in an interactive way,” Belinda Everingham, founder and CEO of Bondi Wash, told Inside Retail.“Korean consumers are some of the most demanding in the world, with a special love for innovative and fragrant products. Their retail environment showcases the leading-edge in experiential design, and I am so happy to be part of this,” she added.Immersion as identityEveringham’s vision for global expansion has always been rooted in the idea of physical presence and recognising customers’ need to experience Australian botanicals first-hand. “Our botanical life is so distinctive and quite different from anywhere else. So, having physical locations where people can experience these scents and try the natural products we develop is a key part of our global strategy,” she said. “Korea was chosen as arguably it is the most vibrant experiential retail environment in the world at the moment,” she added. The timing reflects a wider movement in the beauty and wellness industry, where brands are placing greater emphasis on immersive and customised retail experiences. From wholesale to e-commerce, Bondi Wash’s journey into bricks-and-mortar retail was informed by feedback from international buyers. “What prompted us to first do retail was the questions we were getting from Japanese retailers, ‘Do they have a flagship store?’” Everingham explained.“We understood this to be an important factor in international buying circles, so we opened our first retail store in 2016 in Gould Street, Bondi. We then realised the incredible value of being able to guide how customers interact with your scents and products – and the love created when you get it right in a retail sense,” she added.Staying true to its originAs Bondi Wash grows its physical footprint, wholesale remains a cornerstone of its distribution strategy. “Wholesale is still important for us. We are investing in creating an easy, interactive way for our wholesalers to introduce our scents to customers. We know they don’t have as much space as we do to allow customers to sample our scents. Nailing an interactive display is a priority for us,” Everingham said.The Seoul flagship is designed not just as a point of sale but as a full brand experience. The store introduces the Natural Scent Bar, a key feature developed for international audiences, and first tried at Maison Objet in Paris.Everingham stated that technology would be an exciting addition to this moment of brand storytelling in theory; however, it is not of interest to customers in this particular retail environment. “They want a sensory experience, interactions with other humans, and with scent, touch and feel,” she said.From fragrance to skincare, the focus is shifting toward stores that invite customers on a sensory journey. Jurlique, another Australian native wellness brand, recently launched its own immersive concept store at Pacific Fair on the Gold Coast, opening on April 8 this year.Engaging customers with a natural designDesigned in collaboration with Sasha White of Mr & Mrs White, the Seoul flagship elevates natural materials and exudes an intuitive layout. The store’s interior is in true Bondi Wash fashion, boasting sustainable and simplistic features.“We have worked with Sasha on every store we have launched. Sasha values natural materials and her simple, beautiful philosophy really minimises unnecessary synthetic materials,” Everingham explained.“A lot of thought has been put into making them welcoming spaces. I want people to feel at home, like they are walking into my living room. Too much design and a space can be intimidating,” she added.As a brand that blends sustainability and wellness, Bondi Wash has personified itself within its flagship, permeating every detail from product ingredients to store ambience. Consistent with its other stores, the international flagship is a striking design with products and botanicals taking centre stage.Bondi Wash’s Seoul flagship reflects the brand’s ongoing commitment to offering something distinctive in today’s evolving retail landscape. With standout elements like naturally diffused fragrances and a signature scent bar that draws customers in, the new store provides a place to pause, engage and reconnect with the natural world through scent, story and design.