There are a wide variety of reasons to open a pop-up shop. For starters, pop-up shops, also known as temporary retail, are an effective way to build brand awareness for your retail business.
But did you know that pop-up stores can benefit your business in other ways? From building deeper relationships with your customers to testing new markets, pop-up shops offer brands the opportunity to build an offline arm to their business — all without breaking the bank!
If you’re considering taking the leap into physical retail, here are 4 business benefits to having a pop-up shop.
1. It will Engage Your Customers Online and Offline
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Go Multichannel With a Pop-Up Shop
If you run a primarily online business, pop-up stores are a chance to interact with your customers in the offline world. And in today’s retail landscape, it’s crucial to engage shoppers both online and offline with a multichannel sales strategy.
Multichannel sales help retain 73% of customers, according to a Harvard Business Review study in 2017 measuring the shopping habits of 46,000 people in the U.S. Plus, shoppers who engage with brands on four or more channels spend about 9% more than their less-engaged counterparts, according to the same study.
“Brands must appeal to those who love to go into the store to see, touch and smell what they’re going to purchase, as well as those who love the ease of one-click buying,” says Melissa Gonzalez, founder of pop-up architecture firm The Lion’esque Group, in her book The Pop-Up Paradigm.
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Demo Products and Share Your Story
Pop-up stores also allow retailers to engage customers with product demonstrations and answer questions on the spot. Brands benefit from this face-to-face interaction, and customers learn more about products and get immediate answers to any pain points they may have.
Also, authentic engagements with your customers offline allows you to share your story. Shoppers can learn about your brand and the story behind your products — and this authenticity can build brand loyalty.
2. Pop-Up Stores Are Cost Effective
Pop-up shops are also a desirable offline sales strategy because they can be high-impact while simultaneously being cost-effective.
Big and small brands alike are taking advantage of the cost savings of opening a short-term store. Pop-up shops are less expensive than traditional retail storefronts for multiple reasons, including:
- Less square footage: Because pop-up shops tend to have a smaller retail footprint, rental rates are far more reasonable.
- Shorter rental period: Traditional storefronts typically require retailers rent a space for anywhere from three to 10 years. But pop-ups have a shorter lifespan — think anywhere from three days to six months. That means shelling out less cash for rent in the long run.
- No extra storage needed: Pop-up shops are temporary by nature, so brands usually offer a limited amount of inventory during a pop-up’s lifespan. That means retailers don’t need extra storage on-site for inventory.
- Lower overhead: Again, temporary retail means your general overhead is far lower. Expect to spend less on inventory, staff, rent and utilities, etc.
A “renter’s market” also gives brands the advantage when it comes to finding spaces to lease. Higher-than-average vacancy rates in chi chi neighborhoods, malls and typically permanent storefronts have helped brands get great rates at prestigious addresses. Because of this, commercial real estate brokers are giving in to the rising tide of temporary retail and their shorter leases.
3. You Can Test Out New Markets
Pop-up shops require a much smaller financial commitment, so they’re ideal to use when testing the waters in new markets.
Whether you’re an online-only retailer ready to dabble in offline sales or you’re interested in expanding your physical presence to a new city, pop-up stores are a low-risk way to gain traction.
When dipping a toe into a new market, pop-up stores help build brand awareness before brands commit to a full storefront. Brands can root themselves in a community to find their target customers within an area. Use face-to-face interactions to engage customers (like the methods highlighted above) and build trust prior to fully investing in a new market or full offline sales strategy.
4. It’s Easy Experimentation – Try Out New Products and Soft Launch New Collection !
Because the financial commitment for a pop-up store is significantly less, brands can use temporary retail to experiment with new products or collections. Rather than conducting a formal (and expensive) market research study, simply ask the customers visiting your pop-up stores what they think.
Pop-up stores can serve as your own way to poll your target customers offline. Sell new products alongside your usual inventory and ask for customer feedback on the spot. Does your new product or collection resonate with them? How does it stack up against the products your customers know and love?
Brands can also send home free samples of new products for customers to try. In exchange, ask them to complete a short survey online to gauge their responses to your yet-to-be-launched line. Then you can use that information to perfect and polish those new products before launching them to the broader public.
Ready to book your next pop-up store? Find the ideal space for your project!