The ideas some people come up with to market their product sometimes borders on delusional.
Take a look at what Starbucks did.
Yes, they’re big containers that have a shop inside.
In just a few hours, Starbucks created a new store.
Awesome, right?
Well this is a Pop-up shop. Interesting name. If you haven’t already realized, Pop-up shops got their name from those little friends who nicely appear on our computer screens when we surf the web, asking us to fill something in. A friend who we instantly run away from as if our life depends on it.
Then, it disappears.
It doesn’t really exist. But this is on the internet, of course. So let’s take a look at how it has been translated into reality in the retail sector.
The concept
This same concept has been applied to the retail sector. A type of transformation different from the one we are used to where digital turns to physical, or vice versa. In this case, it is from a physical or digital store. Only the concept is different.
Pop-Up shops are stores that open in a strategic location for a short period of time. Meaning they open up one day and in two weeks they will close and will not return to that location.
Maybe now, as an entrepreneur, you´re wondering where the sense is in opening a store, and everything it entails, from development, planning and execution to then close just two weeks after opening.
But hold on, let me show you another example. It wasn’t all going to be about coffee.
Mobile phones on the road
Yep, you heard right. A shop inside of a bus.
A nomad pop-up shop!
Vodafone worked with HMY to create the world’s first travelling shop.
This store was created to meet the needs of the customer. Here’s a scenario: It’s likely that you’re near or live in a place where you have long sunsets surrounded by wild nature.
The question is: How many mobile shops are there in town?
Probably zero. Or at least one, if the town is big. So Vodafone, together with HMY decided to create a solution: A nomad store housed in a bus and visited a new town every day.
In this simple but innovative way, we managed to increase sales and reach places where Vodafone was not present.
Oh, a moving piece of furniture!
When we think of Ikea, we think of large spaces. Full of samples of what could be any room, cutlery, plants, lamps … Anyway, as we know is that you can find anything you need for your house in Ikea.
Well, they innovated in their stores (they were a bit smaller, as you saw) and introduced new product lines to customers.
That’s the true essence of these Pop-up shops, reaching customers in an original way, for a short period of time, with the aim of showing new products or giving a small boost to the brand’s image.
Another example, is this gift:
After all, these types of stores are a new concept, and if accompanied by a good communication campaign with a deadline, it is quite likely that people will be queueing up to enter your store.
Oh, and let’s not forget: they also sell, a lot. The deadline for closure works very well as a seal of exclusivity. That is, any of your customers who buy at your Pop-Up shop are likely to feel unique and exclusive, since it’s not available to everyone, especially with the difficulty of location.
So if you are thinking about giving a boost to your products, you just have to think in an innovative way. Like these companies did, get creative with your solutions for your customers.
