Brands have decided to bet on pop-up stores to promote their products for a certain period of time. They are characterized by their exclusive character and strategic location but generally tend to be smaller.
Fruit of putting the focus on the customer
The success of these new establishments is rooted in the rise of the customer experience, which has become the main challenge for any brand, as indicated by Laborde Marcet —a Barcelona consultancy that manages assets and real estate investments— in their studio Field report on retail’s commitment to opening pop-up stores.
In this sense, the role of pop-up stores has been consolidated in the main cities around the world, since these types of highly representative premises offer quality services to the client without necessarily worrying that the final purchase of the product. It is about exalting and reinforcing the image of the brand. The recent Shein pop-up store in Barcelona is presented as a clear example of this since the clients who came to enjoy this physical experience could enjoy different activities and try on clothes, but when proceeding to the purchase, they were invited to do so through the online channel.
This strategy presents the consumer with the advantage of receiving it directly at home (and of being able to buy more than what they could charge back that same day) and the disadvantage of having to wait a certain time to receive it, one of the most common demands of Shein’s customers
Despite the temporary nature of pop-ups, there is always an option for them to end up being kept as a permanent store, as happened with the Sezane pop-up in Madrid last year. And it is that, due to its success, it ended up establishing itself in the Spanish capital as its first store in the country. At the beginning of this month of August, he once again decided to start a pop-up, this time, in Barcelona.
The increase in online shopping is one of the main factors that forces us to reinvent ourselves
«Due to the boom in online shopping, stores have had to put traditionality aside and take advantage of the increase in digitization and the latest technology to offer services and an immersive experience,» underlines the director of Retail. Some examples of this are fitting rooms with technology or a good logistics service.
In Spain, the sector that has adapted most easily to this type of business is fashion. Many national brands such as Zara, Desigual or Mango have decided to opt for this new commercial strategy.
