IMPULSE

The first pop-up store “popped up” in New York in 2000. Pop-up stores are a business concept in which stores forego the established rules of sales spaces, thus gaining in popularity over the years.

In the day and age of online shopping, this mobile brand experience provides direct contact with consumers. Thanks to their temporary nature, pop-up stores can reach their target groups in their own environment without generating high long-term costs. It is the perfect fit for many companies.

Brands are using pop-up stores to counter decreasing sales productivity per unit area in German retail. Indeed, the costs per unit area for power, rent, shopfitting and product presentation in traditional stores are climbing, yet turnovers are stagnating. Pop-up stores are a new salesroom concept that provides a solution to these problems.

It removes brands from their traditional settings, placing them in new environments, and, thanks to unusual staging and their temporary nature, it gives them a flair of exclusivity. By means of social media or word-of-mouth, consumers find out that they can discover and purchase products at a specific location. It is more about experiencing the brands than actually buying them.

Pop-up stores differentiate themselves from traditional brand distribution systems because they stage products in innovative and unique ways, transforming customers into users. Users share their experiences online, thus increasing brand awareness. Staging the brand is therefore more important than the products themselves, and their presentation in the chosen setting is just as important as it is on social media.

For younger generations especially, experiencing a brand is more important than the products. As a result, the brand must develop a hands-on approach and use new channels to generate interest among its target groups. Innovative solutions that allow brands to leave their normal environments are ideal. Pop-up stores are just one example of the many live marketing solutions available to stage brands in an era in which traditional methods are lagging behind.