Pop-up shops: what are the ad­van­tages of this concept?

The retail market is in­creas­ing­ly saturated. With classic marketing and tra­di­tion­al sales models, companies find it hard to stand out from the mass of suppliers. But many younger customers prefer out of the ordinary shopping ex­pe­ri­ences. Shopping should be fun and therefore companies use pop-up stores to create exciting shopping ex­pe­ri­ences. By acting as though there is a limited amount of goods on offer as well as there being a time limit, this creates a feeling of ex­clu­siv­i­ty. Limited or special editions make the customer feel that they have acquired something special.

A pop-up store (also known as pop-up shop or pop-up outlet) is usually a store or small warehouse where sales also take place. The business premises are temporary – trendy districts as well as backyard ware­hous­es can be used as sales locations. Unusual locations reinforce the idea of the products on sale being extra special, which is exactly the im­pres­sion pop-up stores want to give.

The sale always has a time limit – the pop-up shop therefore only exists for a limited period. Often the company's goods are only available to buy at this store and the stock is limited: Customers therefore only have a short window of time to buy the products. Many large companies create a similar shortage of goods even in permanent shops by having changing themes or seasons: certain goods are only available in one season.

Product ex­clu­siv­i­ty through time lim­i­ta­tion – this is the essential concept of many pop-up stores. This concept makes it possible to offer products prof­itably on the market without having to rent store space in the long term. This makes it par­tic­u­lar­ly suitable for start-ups, young designers, and other market par­tic­i­pants who do not have permanent offline sales space available to them.

Pop-up stores can boost sales in the short term as well as serve long-term marketing or branding goals. Sales-oriented pop-up shops are designed to increase sales in a timely manner. They are also well suited for pre­sent­ing new products or launching them on the market. The opening of a pop-up store can often generate a great deal of media interest, which can be used to push new offers.

In the long term, media coverage benefits the de­vel­op­ment of the brand and also strength­ens it. In addition, a pop-up store is a good way to acquire new customers. It also allows larger companies to cost-ef­fec­tive­ly test new marketing strate­gies, sales concepts, and target group ori­en­ta­tions, since a pop-up store, unlike a permanent store, does not represent a permanent in­vest­ment. If a strategy doesn't work, there are no long-term con­se­quences. However, suc­cess­ful strate­gies can be used later at other locations.

Eval­u­at­ing the success of the store is rel­a­tive­ly un­com­pli­cat­ed: How many visitors did the store attract and how much turnover did the pop-up store generate? These questions can be answered quickly. That's why pop-up stores are often used to test new products in the field. If suc­cess­ful, the concept can be pursued per­ma­nent­ly (e.g. a permanent store could be set up instead of a pop-up store).

The low costs are another major advantage of pop-up shops: sales space and staff are only required as long as the pop-up store is up and running. As the company is not tied to a location or retail space in the long term, there are no permanent costs for rent and main­te­nance.

In most cases, the ad­ver­tis­ing costs are com­par­a­tive­ly low because pop-up stores benefit greatly from viral marketing. In social networks, pop-up stores are treated as community tips, and users point their friends and contacts in the direction of the store of their own accord.

A pre­req­ui­site for this, however, is that you as an en­tre­pre­neur consider the needs of your target group when creating the store. Because a pop-up shop deviates so strongly from usual stores, it rarely reaches a mass audience. Therefore, be aware of which target group you want to reach before planning your pop-up concept. Remember: Ideally, a visit to your pop-up store is a special event for your visitors that will help you to promote your brand. The customer wants an ex­pe­ri­ence that they can associate with your brand. So use your pop-up store to connect new customers to your brand in the long term.

Each pop-up shop has its own content ori­en­ta­tion, which is why it’s so exciting for customers to enter and explore these kinds of stores. Unusual sales locations and a limited or in­no­v­a­tive product range provide a special shopping ex­pe­ri­ence that stands out from the usual shopping ex­pe­ri­ences. That alone is incentive enough for many customers to visit a pop-up store. Due to the ex­clu­sive­ness and the limited variety of goods, visitors get the im­pres­sion that they have just made use of a shopping op­por­tu­ni­ty that they might otherwise have missed.

Many customers don't just want to buy goods, they also want to associate a story with them and in the best-case scenario be able to tell this story. This is what usually happens on social networks these days. If a customer tells others about the positive shopping ex­pe­ri­ence they had in your store, this has an extremely good ad­ver­tis­ing effect for you.

The location itself can also play a part and increase the target group’s interest, at­tract­ing potential new customers. Locations such as ware­hous­es, court­yards, or other unusual retail space can be an incentive to visit a store. The unusual business premises, in par­tic­u­lar, have given many pop-up stores ad­di­tion­al charm and fa­mil­iar­i­ty.

The success rating of a pop-up shop depends largely on why you decided to open it in the first place. The store’s purpose could be to increase sales and to increase brand awareness. If a company is primarily in­ter­est­ed in the latter, a pop-up store could be seen as a success even if there are low sales figures. Many pop-up stores have been able to increase the pop­u­lar­i­ty of brands despite low sales figures. And larger companies in par­tic­u­lar are often not dependent on the turnover and profit of a single store, while higher brand awareness is much more valuable to them. In addition, they often use pop-up shops to test certain concepts on a small scale.

The e-commerce mar­ket­place, Amazon, has also used the pop-up concept. Es­pe­cial­ly in the run-up to Christmas, a pop-up store is a good op­por­tu­ni­ty to launch new products on the market and therefore boost sales. Amazon pop-up shops can be found around the US, where potential customers can try out new devices before ordering. They are staffed by Amazon con­sul­tants who can give advice and find the right product to suit your needs.

London also now has its own pop-up store. The fashion shop on Baker Street enables customers to try on and see what suits them before they buy. It will be open for a week and will also host different events such as denim cus­tomiza­tion and beauty trend dis­cus­sions. Those that want to purchase an item of clothing can do so the tra­di­tion­al way at the cash register, via tablets provided in-store, or they can scan the product with the Amazon app.

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