Pop-Up Stores Becoming Bigger Part of Retailers’ Holiday Plans
As consumers go about their holiday shopping this year, they might take notice of the growing number of pop-up stores available to them. Brands are increasingly turning to the temporary retail spaces as an outlet to sell holiday or seasonal merchandise that doesn't warrant being stocked in a store 12 months a year.
From big-name retail brands such as Amazon.com (yes, that Amazon!) and Eddie Bauer to smaller local (i.e., mom and pop) stores, it seems as if everyone is jumping on the pop-up bandwagon this holiday season.
According to a recent survey commissioned by Pop-Up Republic, the holidays are the perfect time for retailers to dip their toes into the pop-up waters. The survey of 1,224 U.S. adults revealed that 61 percent of them cited "finding seasonal products" as their top reason for visiting a pop-up store. Other reasons given for visiting pop-up stores included finding new and unique products (39 percent), to shop locally (36 percent) and to get great deals (34 percent).
With this data in mind, PopUps Across America has launched the first online marketplace that features products offered by pop-up merchants.
"This new e-commerce site opens a whole new world to the pop-up entrepreneur who otherwise would have a customer base limited to consumers who live nearby," said Jeremy Baras, president of PopUp Republic, in a company press release. "It enables a pop-up proprietor who plans to open a shop for a couple of weeks or a month to sell goods nationwide."
Amazon to Test Brick-and-Mortar
Amazon is going to open two pop-up stores in California — one each in San Francisco and Sacramento — as a low-cost way to enable consumers to touch and feel its new hardware (e.g., the Fire Phone) before making a purchase. This news comes on the heels of the online retailer's announcement that it will be opening its first permanent brick-and-mortar store — to be located in Manhattan — in 2015.
"We're excited to open new pop-up kiosks in San Francisco and Sacramento in time for the holidays so that customers can try out our new devices," the company said. "While customers can already see our products online and at retailers like Best Buy and Staples, we wanted to provide another option to try out our full lineup leading into the holidays."
In addition to Amazon, Eddie Bauer announced last week that it was opening a holiday pop-up shop in New York City. The temporary space will be open through the holiday season and transform into a permanent flagship store to reopen in spring 2015. In an example of how pop-up shops can be more much more than temporary shacks set up to sell Christmas trees, Eddie Bauer's version will feature a Twitter-activated vending machine that will dispense Eddie Bauer products, gift cards and discount promotions to customers who engage in social sharing while in-store using @eddiebauer and #liveyouradventure. Apparently the integration of channels extends to pop-up shops as well.
Do you have any experiences with pop-up shops? Maybe your company has tried out the concept? Or have you shopped at a pop-up store? Let us know your thoughts by posting a comment below.
