Future of Retail Desires Temporary Experiences

The brick-and-mortar retail experience, whether in strip malls, malls or separate buildings, is on the decline overall, particularly in the specialty retail sector. Part of the issue lies with the overwhelming domination of e-commerce shopping, which is a $262 billion industry, but another problem is that consumers are simply bored with their options at these stores. Instead of pursuing yet another chain franchise that’s been done over and over again, consider temporary pop-up shops with unique selling points.

One major advantage that e-commerce has over brick-and-mortar stores is that anyone can easily set up a shop on a marketplace such as Etsy or Storenvy without a large overhead. This has enabled thousands of small businesses to get off the ground, resulting in new, unique product lines that have customers coming back again and again. Instead of restricting these retail experiences to the online realm, bring them to a temporary Pop-Up Store.

If you don’t already have small businesses in mind to approach for product selection, peruse sites such as Etsy, Pinterest, and other sites that are known for showing off handmade and small production run items. You can look through Etsy store’s sales to see the products that are moving, as well as the overall volume of products that a store turns over. While this doesn’t give you a great deal of statistics when it comes to products, you do get a general idea of whether or not a store has established a good market and a certain amount of brand recognition.

The advantages of using a Pop-Up Store for this purpose is twofold. First, you have access to retail products that provide a fresh experience for the customer, but aren’t necessarily appropriate for year-round selling. Secondly, you’re setting yourself apart from other stores that don’t go beyond the tried and true stores that customers have become complacent and accustomed with. You are taking a risk when you work with pop-up shops since many of the products are unproven in an in-person retail environment, but it’s a much smaller risk than setting up a permanent store with the items.

Pop-up stores take many forms, from kiosks within an established store to mobile units in neighborhoods that cater to the demographic you’re seeking to market. Hyper-local and niche focuses do well with the Pop-Up concept, although they can also be used to test out new product lines for inclusion into permanent stores. No matter what form the pop-up retail shop comes in, this trend is going to become more and more prevalent as retail store and mall owners seek to find a way to remain relevant in an increasingly e-commerce-centric world. These changes are beneficial to consumers as well by giving them a way to see unique products in person instead of hoping that their Internet pictures do them justice.