Part 3: Practices and Strategies for Pop-Up Retailing – Primary Activities
Part 3: Practices and Strategies for Pop-Up Retailing – Primary Activities
Chapter 11: Marketing
Chapter Overview
Pop-ups can create unique and memorable experiences that are aligned with the brand’s value. They have grown in popularity as a hybrid model to help pure-play online retailers and bricks-and-mortar retailers to build intimate relationships with their customers. However, figuring out the target market, choosing an ideal location, hiring the right employees, stocking unique products are just the beginning. Successful pop-ups need to put a solid marketing plan in place to promote the business. This chapter presents several marketing tactics that can help pop-ups generate word of mouth for their businesses, and discusses how social media can be leveraged to achieve pop-up retail success.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of the chapter, readers will be able to:
- Describe marketing tactics that can be used by pop-ups.
- Understand how social media marketing can contribute to pop-up retail success.
- Develop an effective multi-faceted marketing campaign.
Setting the Context
VIDEO
The following video helps to set the context for some of the marketing considerations that pop-up entrepreneurs may overlook while focusing on the operations of their business.
In this scenario, a food truck owner who has relied on foot traffic for customers meets with a student to discuss new ideas for marketing his business.
1. Introduction to Marketing
The retail environment has changed radically in the past two decades. The way that people live, shop, and work has been transformed. Traditional marketing techniques such as cold-calling, print advertising, TV commercials, and junk mails have not totally disappeared from the market but they are being valued less and less by the consumers, especially the younger ones. Hence, retailers – from small pop-up shops to multi-nationals – have been forced to adapt the way they attract, convert, and delight their customers. They are doing this through an expanded Marketing Mix that covers Product, Promotion, Pricing, Place, and People tactics. Pop-ups need to re-think their marketing strategies to make them relevant in this social media era. The ultimate goal is to turn prospects not only into customers but also supporters and advocates.
1.1 Product Tactics for Pop-up Shops
1.1.1 Crossing Over with Another Brand
An advantage of the pop-up shop format is that the brand can be very creative when it comes to product development and presentation. Pop-up shops can be used by brands to test new product ideas and market reaction, without disrupting the day-to-day operation of their existing sales channels. Eva’s Original Chimneys’ pop-up shop at Yorkdale Shopping Centre launched a “Limited Edition Chimney Cone” using crossover branding with Uncle Tetsu, a famous Japanese cheesecake shop. This dessert cone was only available for one day in May 2017. To create scarcity, Eva’s Original Chimneys only sold 15 cones per hour on a fir