79 BUSINESS ADVICE to shrug this off, smaller ones need to keep a close eye on the budget sheet. You can have the best, most expensive space in London, but if none of your customers know you are there, or indeed they are the wrong demographic, you may have wasted time and money. Other goals to consider should be customer interaction, building on social media and newsletters. Success is not purely defined by the financial gain, and a pop up shop can simply be a brand building exercise. 5. How long are pop-up shops open for? Anything from a couple of hours, a day, to a few months. As customers we have a short attention span, and pop up is temporary retail/event experiences. Often, especially with shared pop ups on the high street, businesses gain the confidence and see a need for their own high street unit. This grows from the pop up, but is not classed as pop up. 6. Do pop-up shops make money or serve other purposes such as building brand awareness? They can serve many purposes, and we are seeing in the last few years a big move to rejuvenate high streets or previously run down areas, using pop up shops. This has varied success. Pop up can drive customers and become a destination, but due to the nature of the business, a plan has to be made to continue in the same demographic after the pop up has finished. 7. What are the different types of pop-up shops? Some of the most popular, and successful are those selling local products/artisan produce. Seasonal shops are great, and Christmas can be a good time to book a pop up space. Holiday or themed shops/ celebrity book signings/branded and customised merchandise are all at the top of the list. Pop-up vending machines serving anything from fresh eggs, to candy, to necklaces are also popular. 8. What are the most popular pop-up shops? See above! The choices are vast. 9. Who designs pop-up shops? And how to find a pop-up space? There are many event companies and store designers who can help design your perfect shop, but equally there’s plenty of help online. To find space you can check out a large provider like Appear Here, but equally, smaller local businesses like The Pop Up Shop Agents, who work with local authorities, may be helpful in getting your brand seen on the high street. You can approach land agents directly, but shortterm leases on vacant units are hard to come by. 10. What’s the most innovative pop-up you have ever seen in terms of technology use to enhance customer experience and drive profitability? At some of our pop up shops, we have used QR codes and VR to enhance customer experience. An artist and a furniture designer we worked with used this technique: QR codes leading directly to the brand’s website, the product is ordered online and delivered to the customer’s home. With VR the customer could view the product in different places in their room, before they have even bought it! We have screens displayed in our popups showing snapshots of our sellers, which is very successful. Another brand we worked with (Zuma the Dog), sells a range of clothing for children, and they showcased their latest product, a T-shirt combining AR gaming with a quality wearable garment. Obviously, this was a perfect example of a product to showcase via pop up! This was similar to the much larger Lego x Snapchat pop up back in 2019. Nike are another innovation and pop-up experience favourite, with their Sneakeasy stores, customers had to log into a microsite and follow the brand on Twitter for clues to find when their local store would be open. And of course, it was open for a very short period, creating that want and need marketing we all aspire to in the world of pop up. Visit: https://thepopupshopagents.co.uk
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTA0NTE=