If new products can come and go, why can’t the stores that display them do the same? Well they can, and this is known as ‘Pop-up retail’. Over the last year there has been a surge in the pop-up phenomenon. You may ask the question what exactly is pop-up retail? As I discovered, it can only be described as something that is a temporary venue — the space could be a sample sale one day then a host to a private cocktail party the next.

Pop-up retail is specifically an idea or mindset that allows a company to create a unique environment that engages their customers, as well as generates a feeling of relevance and interactivity. The main trend encompasses “popping-up” one day, and disappearing the next – creating a sense of being fresh and relevant – fantastic attributes for any brand.

The use of pop-up has picked up momentum quickly, particularly in fashion. However companies in other markets are now jumping onto this new trend too including: Nike, Ebay, Song, Oxfam, Claire’s, Rimmel, Nissan and Marmite.

Love it or hate it!

I have put together a variety of interesting examples which outline how Pop-up retail has been used….

Song

Part of Delta Airlines; back in November 2003 they opened a flagship store in the middle of SOHO New York. It was open for 9 weeks and in that time they sold travel gear, sold tickets and let visitors experience the various in-flight entertainment options.

eBay

The world’s online marketplace took advantage of the pop-up retail trend by inviting six interior designers to furnish an entire New York City penthouse. Designers had a limited budget and could only use furniture and accessories purchased through eBay. The result created a mix of funky yet chic interiors, worthy of an upscale store. All items could be bought from the website for one week, after which the Ebay Showcase closed its physical and virtual doors, having fulfilled its Pop-up retail goals. While you cannot buy any of the merchandise on display at the store, you can shop for it. There were more than a dozen computer terminals set up, waiting for your bid. After its success eBay hosted another Pop-up shop in New York where it exclusively sold stock and was open for just over a week. Items included fashions from the likes of Norma Kamali handbags from Michael Kors, cosmetics from M.A.C. and fragrances like Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue, along with some electronics, furniture and toys.

Havaianas

The pop-up fashion is not just in New York it has travelled worldwide. In Brazil, sandal brand Havaianas set up a temporary summer pop-up shop in one of the major shopping malls in San Paulo for three weeks. Customers could choose from 10 colours and prints for the sole, and 10 colours for the straps, plus accessories such as crystals to create their own pair of unique sandals.

Selfridges

It’s not just the countries who are taking advantage of this fashion trend, celebrities are too. Zoe Ball, Beverley Knight and Annie Lennox, have opened a charity pop-up shop in central London packed full of celebrities’ cast-offs including Carey Mulligan’s Bafta gown and other items donated by Beyonce, Alexa Chung, Elle Macpherson, Dame Helen Mirren, Little Boots, Dame Shirley Bassey and Dame Vivienne Westwood. This charity pop-up shop took up residence in Selfridges on Oxford Street for two weeks. All profits from the items sold went to Oxfam and various celebrities put in appearances throughout the two weeks.

Speaking of Selfridges, they were also home to a Rimmel pop-up shop that launched during London Fashion week. At this event they unveiled of two of their new products – the Colour Show Off lipstick, and the Volume Flash the Max waterproof mascara. Rimmel also released a special limited-edition ‘Pink Excess’ make-up collection to celebrate the opening of the temporary store, which was only be available to Selfridges customers. If that wasn’t enough, you could also step inside one of their blue and pink telephone boxes to ‘get the London Look’ yourself – as their professional make-up artists were on hand to offer make-overs throughout the day.  

Claires

Claires also opened up a pop-up shop in London, which invited you into a wonderful world of accessories inspired by the theme of Alice in Wonderland. One of the world’s favourite classic children’s stories which the fabulous Tim Burton reinvented. Claires become an anagram of it and turned into Alice’s, which is perfect for any Alice wannabe. The shop included goodies from miniature top hats to playing card themed charm bracelets, cute stripy knee socks and the classic Alice band, everything to create your very own Alice style.

Marmite

Even Marmite got on the pop-up shop bandwagon. They opened a shop on the famous Regent Street of London for four weeks. The ground floor of the shop was filled with Marmite themed merchandise including familiar yellow and black bottles of Marmite as well as Marmite biscuit tins, t-shirts printed with Marmite inspired prints, postcards, art pieces featuring Marmite and even toasters embossed with the Marmite logo! The first floor had a dedicated Marmite cafe, a great touch for the busy London shoppers to rest their feet in a one off experience.

Overall as you can see the pop-up trend is a fast growing phenomenon with a variety of companies indulging and benefiting in the trend. Companies are taking advantage of doing something different for consumers and creating a greater buzz about their brand. This wonderful idea has enabled brands to prosper giving them added value to their brand name. The retailer Kitbag made its first foray into bricks and mortar with a pop-up shop in our very own Manchester city centre, to celebrate this year’s football World Cup. Although best known for selling football shirts and sports gear online, Kitbag have opened a temporary store in central Manchester to capitalize on the buzz surrounding next month’s World Cup. The shop opened May the 7^th 2010 and will be open till the 5^th of August 2010. The store will sell replicas of the balls being used in the tournament along with elite team products from the likes of Nike, Adidas, Umbro, and Puma.

So indulge yourself in this trendy fashion and get down to a pop-up shop near your to take advantage before it disappears!

Tags: Beyonce, Brand Design Agency, Brand Identity, Brand strategy, Branding, Dame Shirley Bassey, Direct Marketing Agency, Ebay, Elle Macpherson, Fashion Advertising, Manchester Advertising Agency, Manchester Events Agency, Marketing Agency, Marmite, Nike, Nissan, Online Advertising Agency, Online Marketing, Oxfam, Pop up retail, PPC Agency, Retail, Retail Advertising, Retail Advertising Agency, Retail Marketing, Retail Marketing Agency, Selfridges, SEO Company

This entry was posted on Monday, May 24th, 2010 at 7:02 pm and is filed under Blog, Creativity, ecommerce, Future of the Internet, Marketing Innovations, Online Marketing, Online Shopping, Web 2.0, Website Build, World of Web. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.