It’s a Saturday afternoon in your city, people are gathering around a giant structure that wasn’t there a couple hours ago.
You’re asking yourself: How did they manage to make this happen within a day in such a busy area? Curiosity kicks in, so you’re moving towards the structure. The more you get closer, the more you understand and recognize who’s behind this temporary shop. It’s a big brand like Adidas, Polo or even Sephora.
In the Marketing world, this is common ground. We call them Pop-up shops!
A pop-up shop to the core is a temporary retail space that is typically and often introducing a new line of product or testing out a new market location. In the brick-and-mortar situation of 2022, it’s hard to be flexible and to adapt to the fast paste we’re living in.
Imagine how easy it is to make it mobile in this case. It’s a win/win!
We need to answer a couple of questions for you first about the impact of pop-up container.
Let’s dive in, shall we?
What is a pop-up container?
The foundation of a pop-up shop is not a secret anymore. You find an area with high foot traffic, you rent the spot and you do your experience.
Where brands find it hard to have a return on investment is the location. Temporary spaces are not popular among brick-and-mortar rental spots. In this industry, they ask for commitment.
How can we create a temporary retail space, with a good impact in an area with a lot of people? Simple: you do it in a container.
In the back end, creative that works in agencies come with those kinds of concepts. They work hand in hand with the brand and a supplier like Steel Space Concepts to make it happen. A container in a decent size gives you the possibility to build everything just like a retail space, but in a box that is mobile, deployable, and safe for inventory storage.
Pop-up containers creates an opportunity for brand to engage and reach customers in areas where it’s not possible to do so in a small-time frame. Hudson yards is one of them in my opinion. You see almost a pop-up shop a week in the busy season. This is game changer.
A pop-up container in 3 words: An equal opportunity.
What is the purpose of pop-up containers?
A pop-up shop lifespan in a retail space is the length of the rental.
To put this in perspective, if you rent a pop-up shop during Christmas for a month in New York city, after the shopping rush, your experience is over. Vacations past, you’re already focusing on another seasonal event since the rental process takes forever. Endless circle of work.
If you do it in a Container, you can replicate this pop-up 12 months a year when ever you want, wherever you want. We’ve seen a lot of start-ups in the last 2 years with a mobile unit like ours. Why you ask? It’s all about budget and return on investment. Never in the history of retail I’ve seen someone go back home with walls and branding.
The purpose of a pop-up container is to create more freedom of choice in 3 important spheres of retail:
Location: You can decide where you want to be without the headaches of brick and mortar
Time: You can open & close when you want.
Duration: You can be there a day, a week or months if permitting give you the opportunity to do so.
Let’s share a couple of success stories here.
Impact of pop-up container and some examples
Most of our projects in the retail industry are considered pop-up in a way. Tours or temporary space are not always a push for a new line or a new product. They could be a complete replica of an actual retail business.
Maui Jim is probably one of the best examples of consistency with pop-up shops & brick and mortar spaces. You look at it and you understand exactly what’s going on.
In other circumstances of a pop-up container, you need to have more footprint to create a safe space. Polo Ralph Lauren pop up tour did an SS20 for those reasons.
The product you have for sell helps you decide the footprint as well. Sunglasses and t-shirt don’t have the same showcase, and the more you showcase the more you need square footage.
In the last 12 years, we’ve seen so many different projects. We have come to a good conclusion from those 300 + projects. Every pop-up shop is unique.
Inspiration is always a good thing in the creative world, but don’t be intimidated by the size of some of them. An SSLITE8 is still a massive opportunity to sell a product and to advertise efficiently.
How effective are pop-up containers?
Agencies need to bring some KPI’s for the client. Completely understandable.
If you look at our case studies we’ve done over the years, it’s loud & clear: they work!
The two major reasons pop-up shops work are more human related. Let me explain this.
The brand ambassadors are a key role to an experience, it shows that the brand is present and it’s a way to interact with people that are more connected to the core of the brand. But reaching the people directly where they live and do their day to day lives, this is where they win points. You’re sort of creating a bond with people, you make them part of your journey. And if you’re not yet a brick-and-mortar store, you’re making your brand ALIVE.
There’re situations you can’t control in the success of a pop-up.
Weather, cancellation of events (festivals), people not showing up for work, name it. Therefore, you need to ask more questions and define your needs prior to a call because this is crucial to your configuration.
Effectiveness for the structure is a proven thing. The foundation of what is a ‘’ pop-up shop container ‘’ as well. What you need now is to start the process.
Things did change in the last 2 years especially in the retail industry, but we’ve been there long enough to understand what challenges you’re facing when starting this type of project.
Where do I start?
Either you are working for an agency or working with an agency for your project, you’re at the right place.
Getting information and asking question are key for your success in this type of activation. If it’s your first blog about it, or you’ve seen some stuff on Pinterest, here’re more possibilities for information.
I strongly suggest you visit our project page for inspiration with our latest project or past project.
The first step would be the know your why. The ‘’ why ‘’ will define your experience, and this will help the agency make your vision to reality. There’s not a lot of suppliers that offers turnkey solutions, make sure you ask the right questions to avoid extra cost and unpleasant surprises. A strong partnership will bring more return on investment for this type of stunt. You want a good first impression.
For example, if your why is: ‘’ try a new market location in the east of the city ‘’, you can have a specific location to target and that will define your footprint restriction (if you do have one).
After that, you’re ready to call some suppliers like us to see what we have available for you dates & location.
You’ll be on site faster than you think.
Final thoughts
In my personal experience with Steel Space Concepts and on field, I think the number one thing that make a pop-up container possible for you is to adapt to your budget.
You’re not in an obligation of purchasing anything when it comes to this type of shop stunt. You can rent for only one big event a year or even rent for a couple of weeks.
Either it’s a festival or a street stunt in front of central park, feel free to contact us with any questions that could make you move a step further towards a successful pop-up container.
Here you go, the impact of pop-up container.
Cheers!