What are pop-ups good for?

This article was featured on Glossy on December 18th 2019

Right now, in Soho, there is no less than twelve pop-up stores. Venture a bit further north, and you’d encounter additional eight to ten. Holidays season sends retailers in overdrive, and pop-ups have become a welcome new tactic across the board. The operative word here is tactic: still, a very few brands use them strategically, via combination of real estate and retail data, and as a way to connect their audience development, marketing, data and merchandising, and sales.

Pop-ups make a lot of sense at the time when retail bankruptcies are piling up and store closures have become a new normal. They are a relatively cost-efficient way to test a new market before opening a permanent physical store. Having a physical presence benefits online businesses, and contrary to the long-held belief, it doesn’t cannibalize online sales. It allows consumers to discover and try products before they buy them. Pop-ups are a cheaper way to acquire customers than Google and Facebook ads.

As the pop-up landscape matures, consumer fatigue and market saturation with “immersive,” Instagrammable destinations force retailers to explore how having a pop-up store ladders up to their brand and business. Successful pop-ups today are not a sole PR play and/or a sales and distribution channel. They succeed because their…