Don’t have a space to sell your products? You may want to consider creating a pop-up shop, a temporary shop that acts as both a retail space and a fun event for your customers. Although planning and launching a pop-up shop may be time-consuming and expensive, it can be incredibly beneficial to your brand. Here are some of the benefits you may reap from hosting a pop-up shop:
Be where your customers are.
Instead of having to wait for your customers to find you, a pop-up shop allows you to be where your customers are. Once you know your demographic, research events in the area that your audience is likely to attend. Call the event organizer and ask if it’s possible for you to launch a pop-up shop for one day of the event. This is a great way to introduce your brand to your audience in an engaging, fun way.
Creates a sense of urgency.
When your products are sold on the shelves of retailers, customers don’t feel a sense of urgency to buy them—after all, the same products will still be there tomorrow. But, customers know a pop-up shop is only temporary, so if they are on the fence about buying your product, this will push them to make a purchase that day instead of waiting until the pop-up shop is over. This will work even better if you have special promotions running during the day of the pop-up shop.
Sell one-on-one to customers.
Once you begin to sell to retailers, you don’t get the chance to speak directly with your customers and talk to them about the product. But, if you do a pop-up shop, you have the opportunity to work one-on-one with customers to help them understand your product and how it can benefit their lives. If you have a complex product or one that has no competition on the market, this will be especially helpful because customers will need more education before deciding to purchase your product.
Test the waters.
Are you currently only selling your products online? You may be wondering if it’s wise to expand into brick and mortar stores, so before you spend countless hours trying to contact retailers, why not test the waters? A pop-up shop is a great way to see how customers respond to shopping for your products offline. After launching the shop, be honest with yourself on how it performed and take the results into consideration before deciding whether you’re fit for brick and mortar retailers.
What are your thoughts on pop-up shops? Are they just another trend, or are they here to stay? Share your opinions in the comments below!