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Experiential Marketing

How To Make Your Pop-Up Shop a Success

How To Make Your Pop-Up Shop a Success

Pop-up shops are beneficial for businesses in a variety of different ways. They’re a great way to test out new locations before committing to a lease, experiment with new products, increase brand awareness, or drum up excitement around a particular event or time period, like the holiday season. However, pop-up shops are only successful if you plan them logistically.

Here are five tips to help you prepare a successful pop-up shop.

  • Determine Specific Goals

To plan a successful pop-up shop, first, you must generate a list of goals. Perhaps your business is primarily online and you want to test locations to expand your physical retail stores. Or, maybe you want to experiment with new products before releasing them to the public. Determining your goals early on will help you navigate the rest of your planning and decide what you can measure to assess your pop-up shop’s success.

  • Pre-Pop-Up Promotion

You’ll want to build as much excitement as possible in the weeks leading up to your pop-up shop opening. Give customers an incentive to attend by releasing sneak peeks of products on your social media and sending special promotions to your email subscribers. Reach new customers and spread the word about your shop by contacting local media outlets. You can also create a sense of urgency in your advertising by reminding customers the shop is only around for a short time. For those that enjoy exclusivity and do not like to miss out, this promotion tactic will be more likely to garner customers. 

  • Test Your Technology

Before opening your pop-up shop to the public, test your technology and confirm it runs smoothly. If you offer cashless payment methods, ensure all tablets, scanners, and card readers work and have no problems processing customers’ charges. Since technology can be unpredictable, prepare your shop with backup hardware and chargers. 

It’s also essential to ensure your guest WiFi is fast and accessible to your customers. If you offer payments via mobile services, such as Venmo or PayPal, use signage to provide the WiFi name and password, making it easier for customers to make their purchases. Providing good WiFi also allows your customers to post about your pop-up shop on social media to generate buzz. 

  • Separate Yourself from the Competition

If your pop-up shop is in a location near similar businesses, you’ll want to provide a unique shopping experience that will separate you from the competition. There are a variety of different ways you can achieve this. Have a fun photo-op set up with a catchy hashtag to share on social media, give a gift or coupon with every purchase, provide snacks and drinks, and make sure your shop is eye-catching with flashy lights and displays. Give customers something that will make them want to return to your shop and recommend it to their friends and family. 

  • Find the Right Partner

Whether or not this is your first pop-up shop, it’s essential to team up with an experiential marketing agency to make it a success. An experiential marketing team will take your goals and objectives to conduct a detailed search for the location of your shop and develop a plan to get you the most ROI. Before committing to a long-term lease or a new retail campaign, the right partner will help you test and understand various markets in multiple locations to see where your business can thrive.

Marketing Genome Can Help You Plan and Execute Your Pop-Up Shop

At Marketing Genome, we offer turnkey service for pop-up shops, meaning we handle everything from start to finish. Our team will help you compile ideas and concepts to fabricate a unique experience for your customers. We will also scout locations and venues to give your pop-up shop the best chance at success. Additionally, our staff will build, transport, manage, and take down your shop so you can focus on making sales. 

Are you interested in hosting a pop-up shop? One of our expert marketing consultants can provide a complimentary brainstorming and evaluation session to find out how we can help you. Let’s talk!

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