Branded Spaces and Pop-Up Store - Essay Example

? Branded Spaces Branded Spaces One phenomenon currently gripping retail culture is the pop-up store or installation, which is a derivative of guerrilla marketing. The idea is that a store will appear in a location for a rather short duration. This store can be in the form of a temporary structure or a space that is not usually associated with retail. The venue and the event are not advertised, aiming the concept at the cool, those in the know. This retail format is aimed at creating a ‘limited edition’ type of retail atmosphere, as these stores open for a specific time, which can be interpreted as a scarcity strategy by retailers or a ‘promotion gag’ (Smith, 2009). They are temporary retail establishments that are only open for a rather a rather short duration, and they offer an array of usually seasonal products. This essay examines advantages and disadvantages of pop-up stores. The origin of pop-up stores can be traced back in 1999. The company accredited with the emergence of pop-up stores is Vacant of Los Angeles. Vacant is the first company that developed the idea of pop-up retail. This was after the company had toured Tokyo on a business trip. The company was puzzled by the manner in which customers would literally line up to buy limited edition products from place retailers (Smith, 2009). When the products were all sold out, an exercise that took place in a matter of hours, the store closed down until its owner had brought in another stock, and then reopen it. This concept fascinated Vacant, who though to closing the store permanently after the stock had been sold. The company also thought of moving to another targeted destination because customers used to travel for long distances in order to buy products from niche retailers (Townsend, 2010). Vacant picked up this idea and even today, the company still provides retailing alongside marketing for businesses. The company opened its second shop in NYC2003 through the sponsorship of Dr. Martens. Later in the same year, Song Airlines opened their pop-up shop in the same city. In 2004, Comme Des Garcons opened up a pop-up shop known as the Guerrilla Shop, which lasts for a one-year term. Since then, the trend of pop-up shops has grown to become an indispensable tool for real estate firms and property owners who are now prospecting to let their property for a short period in the wake of an economy down town pending its recovery (Vacant.com, 2011). A pop-up shop is a temporary venue. For instance, the space can be used for merchandise activities while on the following day hold a cocktail party. The tendency entails popping-up one day or week, then vanishing the same duration later. These shops, although they are small and temporary, have the capacity to build up interest through consumer exposure. Pop-up shops enable a firm to create a unique environment that involves its consumers, and develops a sense of significance and interactivity (Smith, 2009). The retail environment of pop-up stores in most cases is highly experiential, transporting emotions in an event-oriented type of atmosphere. While pop-up stores can also serve as retail events to sell special offers, they often serve as retail avenues to present and introduce product innovations or even conduct market tests. As such, locations are usually in city centres, or the trendy neighbourhoods of big cities (Townsend, 2010). With the strategy of pop-up stores being the creation of a climate of scarcity, retailers try to build a higher willingness to pay among their customer because there no option for price comparison and offers are only available for short periods of time, which can increase desirability. In particular, temporary stores that sell special offers are consumption events for customers and their main objective is to get discounts. In some cases, pop-up stores of this type are used to give special offers to long-term, high value customers. In these events, the scarcity effect is reinforced as there is not only a temporary limitation of the offers but also the products are only available for specific customer groups. This form of customer segmentation may be used to deepen customer relationships (Smith, 2009). Pop-up stores offer a very high degree of flexibility for retailers. As they are not involved in long-term leases, not only location changes are possible, but also the profitability of such business operations is usually rather high. Anyhow, this store format is difficult with regard to customer attraction and communicating the opening up of a pop-up store. As they are only opened for a limited period, the main challenge is to advertise the stores, to gain customer awareness and to become known among target customers (Townsend, 2010). Often, huge communication efforts are necessary to establish successful pop-up stores. However, retailers counter this limitation by opening up pop-up stores in well-known venues such as the front of restaurants. By so doing, would-be consumers not take a lot of time locating the new pop-up store, hence; saving the effort of having to commit a lot of effort in advertising (Gibbs 2011). The idea of temporary shops and restaurants was initially considered a way by which artists made use of empty urban spaces. However, in the contemporary world, such practices are deemed part of a corporate strategy. Indeed, pop-up stores are a growing phenomenon across the spectrum, from eBay to Liberty of London, and from mass-market retailers such as Target to fashion labels such as Kate Spade. The popularity of pop-up stores is not limited to famous stores (Townsend, 2010). They are as important to small independent businesses without the capacity to own a permanent business site. Pop-up stores take advantage of the relatively low-risk environment to try the unusual. They build loyalty with new customers. The trend of pop-up concept is an eminent concept in many parts of the United Kingdom, especially London. In London, the pop-up trend not only permeates in business but also in events (Townsend, 2010). For instance, in 2008, a group of event organizers set up a 99-day pop-up project dabbed Counter Culture (Cochrane, 2010). The event featured different artists such as poets, DJs, and photographers and took place in a London club that had been closed for close to two decades. Nevertheless, Counter Culture is just an exemplar of the high number of pop-up events that have been witnessed in the UK in the recent years. These have usually ranged from small to large and from the inspiring to the ridiculous (Smith, 2009). The country has also witnessed an upsurge in pop-up shops, gardens, restaurants, as well as pop-up galleries. Although most of these endeavours have been guerrilla projects, there have been successful corporate backed pop-ups that emerge with increasing regularity, and are usually hosted by famous venues. Among those corporate-backed, pop-ups that have been successful include a pop-up branch of Central Perk. It opened a store in London’s Soho in an effort to promote a limited-edition set of the Friends TV series. Others include Tom Dixon’s kitchen restaurant, which has permanent fixtures in West London. The pop-up stores or events are united by a strong fascination with the temporary. The fact that the products or events are here today and gone tomorrow offers excitement to many consumers creating urgency and a lively contact with urban spaces (Cochrane, 2010). Although the pop-up business is usually traced back to 2004, the modern idea of pop-up might be older than it is thought. This is because the contemporary trend is related to the restaurants that were run in people’s homes in Cuba. The trend is also similar to that one used by artists Sarah Lucas and Tracey Emin. The two opened up a shop in London for six months in 1993 in which they made and sold mugs and T-shirts, as well as ashtrays. In 2001, artist Dan Thompson opened his first pop-up jewellery together with his friends in a bakery, in Worthing. Today, Thompson is the owner of the Empty Shops Network. This organization offers advice on artists with the prospect of beginning projects in one of the UK’s disused high-street stores. This is because the pop-up business has high chances of thriving in the UK given that more than 10 percent of all the country’s shops are currently empty (Cochrane, 2010). Thompson says that he derives his inspiration from the magical curiosity shops that have made appearances for many years in fiction, but which one can never find again. He adds that he loves creating things that people will be left longing for it long after it is gone. Although pop-up businesses have counter-culture origins, they have become a corporate concern in the contemporary business milieu (King, 2010). This is because such businesses provide a positive means of fully utilizing urban space. Pop-up businesses liven up parts of the city that are under-used by providing space for local activity, civil-society events, as well as spontaneous meetings. From the business perspective, they can be instrumental in consumerism (Cochrane, 2010). The role of pop-ups stores and the events, therefore, brings back the lost glory of the city sections, which were previously neglected. The uniqueness of pop-up events implies that those that require participants to have tickets sell out very fast. This is due to the urgency of the event at hand. In addition, when pop-ups are hosted by businesses that are already established, their uniqueness and fame can lead to apparent gains for both the hosting business and its brand. One of the reasons why pop-ups are attractive is because they play the role of casual, unappreciated market research project. A pop-up event is more profitable than running advertisement campaigns. According to Germain who heads creativity at Innocent, the number of people who turn up in a pop-up event may be small, but the event enables the organizers to establish relationships with the consumers that last for a lifetime (Smith, 2009). Pop-up businesses also give retailers other benefits that not so obvious to the consumer. For instance, they offer the business with an opportunity of trying out a new store location. They also serve to establish if the kind of people the business is interested in attracting will be visiting the venue if the owners of the business invest in a permanent location. In addition, manufacturers can test their new products, services, or deliver them directly to the consumer (King, 2010). Furthermore, pop-ups can be used to promote a new brand, or to revive an older one. All this research and promotion occurs for a relatively cheap price. In addition, pop-up events are beneficial to those property owners whose properties have been temporarily empty. This is because pop-ups aid in improving the buildings free of charge (Levy & Weiotz, 2008). Since pop-up stores provide retailers with such exclusive benefits, the extraordinarily short period in which they are in operation bestows the retailer with exclusive demands. The game does not end after finding an affordable and high-traffic site; the place has to be where the target market is during the peak time for its sector. In addition, the products also have to be tailored towards the needs of those consumers. Therefore, there are three major aspects of pop-up business that can see the success or failure of the endeavour (King, 2010). The first one is location. There is a need to comprehend the populace and current sales in an existing location. The second one is timing. The retailer has to understand when the demand is likely to develop so that he can be able to plan ahead of the competitor. Another advantage of pop-up stores is that they can help businesses in drawing holiday crowds. By doing so, businesses can offer its consumers an outlet for exclusive products without risking an investment on the product itself. Therefore, a business can augment its holiday revenue without necessarily having to create an extra overhead expense. In addition, pop-up businesses are known to attract surprise customers. This is because the businesses operate for limited period. Therefore, pop-ups come in handy as an effective marketing tool to bring in more customers into a business, and encouraging repeat business. Finally, the retailer has to target appropriately his or her market since there is inadequate time for establishing a customer base (Levy & Weiotz, 2008). As pop-ups continue to permeate the business milieu, there is a need to comprehend the merits and demerits of this new trend in business. To begin with, the advantages, pop-ups help in minimizing overhead costs. This is especially true for start ups that want to be exposed while keeping the overhead costs as lows as possible. In this case, the pop-up can take advantage of premium space at a price lower that the normal one. Another advantage of pop-ups is that there is a low risk involved in the activities of the organization. This is attributed to the fact such businesses are not required to pay for big sums of money for upfront costs and fees. In addition, they are not limited to business hours (Beisel, 1987). As mentioned earlier, pop-ups also facilitate marketing activities since they enable businesses to extend into novel sits and target new market niches. All this happens without the business having to build new stores in those sites. To the host of the pop-up store, this practice has the advantage of bringing in additional revenue to the business. In addition, pop-ups also ensure that there is flexibility in business since the host store is not obliged to commit for a long time of having the pop-up store. The host store can request the pop-up store to open only on specific days or during certain times pending a long-term commitment (Townsend, 2010). Despite the advantages of pop-ups as outlined above, the pop-up business, the business has a number of disadvantages. One of the disadvantages of pop-up businesses is that they require competent and well-trained staff. It may be difficult to find competent personnel, in which case supervision becomes an issue of concern (Levy & Weiotz, 2008). If the owner of the pop-up cannot source competent personnel to run the business, a lot of supervision is required to ensure that those who are sourced run the business effectively. Another disadvantage of pop-ups is that they require a relatively high technology investment especially at the point of sales systems. One of the major challenges that face the pop-up business is how to maintain the brand image of the host store with that of the pop-up store. This poses a major disadvantage to the business as inconsistency in terms of brand images can lead to irreparable damage to the host store. Furthermore, the pop-up will also need to address the security of the site even if the host store has security in place (Beisel, 1987). In conclusion, although pop-ups began as a way of artists to make use of disused space in urban areas, this has since changed modern entrepreneurial activity. Businesses make huge profits and continue to improve their brand image through pop-ups. Even the social and commercial fraternity have changed their perspectives on pop-ups and have begun to consider them as gainful business activities. As the effects of economic crises continue to bite many countries and to affect many businesses, the pop-up trend can be a prove to a very useful business tool of reaping more gains with less overhead costs. References Beisel, J., 1987. Contemporary retailing. New York: Macmillan Pub. Co. Cochrane, K., 2010. ‘Why pop-ups pop-up everywhere’. The Guardian, 12 October 2010. Online. Available from http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/12/pop-up- temporary-shops-restaurants [Accessed at 15 March 2012]. Gibbs, R. 2011. Principles of urban retail planning and development. London: John Wiley & Sons. King, J. 2010. Pop-up stores offer bridge to better times. USA Today. 14 October, 2010. Online. Available from http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-10-15- column15_ST2_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip [Accessed on 15 March 2012. Levy, M., & Weiotz, B., 2008. Retailing management. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Smith, S., 2009. ‘The pop-up shopping phenomenon’. BBC News night. 7 December, 2009. Online. Available from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8400522.stm [Accessed on 15 March, 2012]. Townsend, M., 2010. ‘The staying power of pop-up stores’. Bloomberg BusinessWeek. 11 November, 2010. Online. Available from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_47/b4204026293305.htm [Accessed on 15 March, 2012]. Vacant.com. 2011. Pop-up shops and brand marketing of pop-up retailing. Online. Available from http://www.govacant.com/ [Accessed on 15 March, 2012]. Read More