“The old storefront model is dead”: the future of retail are pop-up shops

Pop-ups as temporary stores have been around since before the pandemic, yet it seems to be an increasing trend. Is that so? Have you noticed an increase in demand? We’ve definitely seen an increase in demand across the board of space rentals. I think particularly being able to book something by the hour and do it for one to two hours, is great for all businesses. I think ever since coming out of Covid, people are just looking for interesting and kind of unique spaces and in terms of brands, they are looking to do these one off kind of brand awareness-type pop-ups. What do you think are the contributing factors of this increasing trend? I believe the pandemic has had a big impact on it, because obviously, people either lost their jobs or had to kind of find new ways to generate revenue. So I think a lot of people were inspired to launch these small businesses, even just by looking at these new brands that are lounging new lines of retail at the moment. Alongside that, obviously, there's the cost of living prices and inflation. Retailers keep fighting for brand awareness and trying to get reference from people who are very cost conscious, which customers usually are. So I think pop-ups can really help to differentiate brands, and just bring the products to life and offer something a little bit different from just an online store. How are pop-ups beneficial to the customer? There’s so much competition out there. Now, I feel like customers do feel more comfortable with online brands, because of all the benefits they have, but I also feel there’s something really special about being able to actually see the products in person. Pop-ups can be something that customers discover accidentally, like on their daily commute they walk past one and decide to drop by. And also for the brands, it’s a different way of doing business, they’re not just putting some of their products in a shop and that's it. A lot of them are doing additional things like giveaways for purchases or planning fun events. And I think that in this way customers are able to actually build that affiliation with the brand so much more than with a regular retail shop. What other benefits are there for retailers who decide to do pop-ups? Ultimately it gives great brand awareness and they’re able to increase their sales. But also as I said, it’s about being able to build trust with their customers and build affinity with their brand. And also, it’s cost efficient: they don’t have to use a huge amount of money for a lease, they are paying for a few hours or a couple of days depending on how long they’re doing the pop up for. So they don't have any commitment to these insanely high rent costs. And for brands, it means that they can experiment more. So maybe if they are thinking about something that's a longer term lease, they can test out whether or not it works. Or they can move around and actually target different audiences, they can go to different locations. In addition, doing pop ups allows for brands to access areas that are usually very expensive, like Mayfair or Marylebone and they become more accessible for everyone. Do you think that pop-ups can be beneficial even for already established retailers? Yes, definitely. I don’t think that’s exclusive to SMEs. I think the larger companies can benefit too and there’s so much that can be done through social media as well. Retailers can, for example, invite influencers to these pop-ups, and having people post about it using hashtags are all things that can be beneficial for any brand. In a recent article you wrote, you said that “the traditional retail store is dead”. What do you mean by that? I think traditional storefronts are going to continue to exist but the old model of having to have a permanent storefront I think that isn't the only way now to be a successful brand. Online retailers have grown so much in the past few years and brands simply don’t need to have that long-term lease anymore. That’s what I meant by saying that the traditional retail store, as the only model, is something that is now dead. There are all these alternative ways to market yourself now. Do you think pop-ups are the future of retail? I think they have a really bright future in general because there's just so much upside and so little risk associated with them. Ultimately, what is the downside for a brand trying a pop-up? If they do a one day pop-up and it’s not successful, then they've only really lost the cost of that booking and a few other materials, but they still got their products and they're not locked into a location. The stats tell the same story: a recent survey was showing that pop ups reported 46% increase in sales and a 51% rise in market visibility. So I think there’s a really positive upward trend for pop ups and ultimately it will be the way forward for retailers.