One of the greatest advantages of pop-up stores is the flexibility to travel to new places and introduce your brand to diverse markets. But nailing down exactly which destination to open a pop-up store in requires a lot of goal-setting, strategic planning and research.
1. Set Goals
If you don’t set out with specific goals in mind, it will be difficult to measure how successful your pop-up store was. Perhaps it’s to launch a new product, do market research on a new concept, or grow your customer base.
Those goals can guide you in the right direction. If you want to test a new product, go to destinations where you have many existing customers. If you want to grow your customer base, head to a location with lots of foot traffic.
2. Identify Your Target Audience
- Identifying your target audience can help you narrow the list of destinations. You can determine whether they’re in urban or suburban areas, where and when they do their shopping, and how much they’re willing to spend.
- If you’re an online retailer, evaluating your sales data can help you distinguish a profitable market base. It’s also important to decide if you’re going to base your pop-up location on geographic segmentation (a specific market, state, or region), demographic segmentation (targeting gender, age, income level, etc.), or time/seasonality.
3. Establish a Budget
Be conscious of your budget as you tour potential locations. A good rule of thumb is to expect your budget to break down like this:
- 30% for the location itself (rental space)
- 30% for staffing, promotion and miscellaneous expenses (travel and lodging to prepare for the pop-up, Wi-Fi, hired staff to work the store, marketing budget, etc.)
- 20% for logistics (store set-up and moving inventory)
- 20% for design (creating your optimal layout)
4. Big City or the Suburbs?
New York City and Los Angeles, the two most-populous American cities, remain top locations for pop-up stores due to the sheer volume of the markets. Some brands have experimented with pop-up stores in large cities as a way to provide convenience and access to shoppers without the hassle or commitment of operating a brick-and-mortar store in a congested area. E-commerce brand Nubian Skin hosted its pop-up store with us in a prime Melrose Ave boutique space (see below) to attract its online consumers in a highly populated, central location.
However, there are a number of reasons you might choose smaller cities. It’s generally less expensive to rent space in smaller cities. Additionally, many small and medium-sized cities are renewing their image and fostering innovation, thus making them eager to welcome pop-up shops to stimulate the local economy.
You may also find in your research that your target audience resides primarily in smaller cities, or, you may want to branch out or test in a smaller market if you’re already operating in a larger city. Smaller markets such as Raleigh, North Carolina; Knoxville, Tennessee; and Richmond, Virginia; for example, have seen a surge in pop-up stores.
5. Consider Events
You’ve identified your target audience, and you can use the information about their interests to identify events that they’ll likely attend.
Many fashion and luxury brands have found success at Fashion Week, gaining visibility to a targeted demographic. Miami’s Art Basel is another event to consider. When determining which events make sense for your brand’s pop-up store, refer back to your identified audience and understand where they’ll be — and why.
6. The Unexpected
Don’t be afraid to dream up an idea and work to have it come to fruition. If you find a unique pop-up venue that you know would make sense for your brand, goals and target audience, that can determine which destination you target for your next pop-up.
Set yourself up for retail success with the ultimate guide to opening a pop-up shop >