Big 3 Korean department stores - Lotte, Hyundai, and Shinsegae have pursued a differentiation strategy in order to survive the era of big-bang. This study has proposed to present a frame work with which we can recognize the character of design, which is pertinent to a differentiation strategy. The results of study are as follow ; 1) Lotte department store reveals the 3 strategies - location, composition and specialization strategy and the character of design has traditional, high class and neutral disposition. 2) Hyundai department store reveals high class strategy and the character of design has high class and modern disposition. 3) Shinsegae department store reveals high class and specialization strategies and the character of design has high class, tradition and modem disposition.