“Pop–up shop; an ephemeral retail event that brings the organic nature of the brands environment to your community depositing long abiding impact with the customers.”
Attention to the details and community is always key to the project. Map out what mission, message and experience you want to convey within three words which describe the environment you want to create. It may be fun, educational, chic…. It may be anything!
What does the experience mean to you? How can you turn it into a reality for your customers? Many brands are not always clear about their target audience and it makes a world of a difference. The more you can zoom in on who your focus is, the more special and exclusive of a space you create for them. Even though there could be thousands, if not millions of fashionable and practical mothers, how do you bring their expression to life through your brand?
- Make it clear who your target audience is, for the event and as well as the brand.
- Location is key, take into account areas of particularly high foot traffic. You’ll catch more fish if you cast your net into a sea full of fish, as opposed to a stream with one or two. Just because the stream looks nice, doesn’t mean you’ll get more from it.
- Give yourself the time to walk around the area, familiarise yourself with the demographic and vibe of the community. Is it lively, quiet, up beat, student or family orientated?
- Talk to the community and ask what they would like to see in their neighbourhood. Make note of exactly who you are asking.
- What local businesses are relevant to the experience you mean to show? By proving you can build the best pop up shops around, and being present at the event, you may be able to inspire other businesses to participate in a pop up shop, or other experiential event. Hand them your business card, and get networking.
Cross advertise with local brands once you:
- Discover who compliments your brand, vision, mission and message. Make sure they know how you were involved with the event.
- Had any pop-up shops appeared in the area in the past? If so what kind and when? Research into how the event went.
- Senses correlate to memory, be a part of their memory by pleasing their senses. Explore different ways you can connect to an audience, not just through visuals, but through audio, smells, sense of touch Explore using different senses to stimulate your consumers – Live music – Lights – food – sent – things to touch.
- Build a buzzzzzz…. Give your pop up a theme, or link it to a holiday, local event or
- Express why; the finite, exclusive, limited, secretive?
- Be creative about sharing space- Maybe you are are a brand of women’s contemporary clothing, find a salon with the same space vibe and see how you can collaborate.
Pop-up shops are becoming increasingly popular due to the nature of online shopping. It may sound like the two shouldn’t go hand in hand, for why go out to a shop of any kind (pop-up or not) when you could shop in the comfort of your own home? Pop-up shops are ideal to catch the online shopper off guard whilst out shopping for those things they can’t seem to find online.
Ideally, your pop-up shop will be easy to assemble, easy to pack away, and completely original. By choosing a building company who know what sells in a pop-up shop, will you ensure you find success in your pop-up shop.
Your builders need to share your mission, message and experience, so take care in hiring a team who will listen to your research and your idea.
