The Pop Up store trend, here for a good time or a long one?

Retail stores have existed for a long time. Since the beginning of ready-to-wear, clothing was being sold
in physical shops. This retail experience, where customers could see, touch, feel and try garments, was
first introduced to the world in Europe, and has spread to the whole world ever since. In fact, the fully
immersive shopping experience had been having its glory for a long time. While retailers have always gone
a long way striving to provide unique fashion experiences to their customers, shopping experiences have
become, more or less, the same all around the world, coming in contrast with the idea of being “unique”.
And while it is true that luxury brands are particularly attentive to their customers’ in store experience,
offering tailored and luxurious service to their clients, it seems that even those experiences have become
standardized and ordinarily similar around the world.

The internet revolution later came as a threat to these retailers, who seemed to have, with time, already
lost their singularity. Indeed, the emergence of retailers such as LuisaViaRoma, Net a porter and Farfetch,
completely changed the way consumers approach the industry. Online shopping’s arrival was a shock for
the real retail life experiences which were, once upon a time, the only way for customers to buy garments.
As a consequence, physical stores were heavily hit once online shopping was introduced to the world. In
2020 came another threat, Covid-19; the cherry on top for physical stores retailers. Indeed, the pandemic
made things worse. Hence, as a consequence of physical stores being shut for a good time, consumers
were obliged to start leaning more and more into online shopping. Therefore post pandemic, a lot of
stores shut down. While the world is progressively going back to normal, retail stores have been putting
great effort into re-introducing the in-person shopping experience. As a result, they opted for a new
strategy, among others, Pop-Up stores.

This trend has increasingly been used in recent years, by both, brands with existent retail stores and
online-only brands, as some brands have been trying to re-establish their place fighting the online
shopping to the urge, and others trying to reach a bigger number of consumers while allowing them to
sense their products, by creating some form of excitement and fun around their products. This new
concept involves the opening of temporary stores in different possible locations such as shopping malls
and streets, and the idea behind it is for people to, indeed, have fun while shopping, or just have a good
time and make memories related to the brand ensuring a long lasting loyalty between the brand and its
clientele. Among the many advantages it could bring forward, not only does it allow brands to test new
markets but it also allows them to connect to their customers in a much more engaging way. Pop ups are
of huge interest for the brands loyal customers but also a new and fun and advanced way to invite new
customers into seeing the brands products, rather than just focusing on the traditional way, billboards
ads, or instagram influencers. While this strategy has been adopted by many, Comme Des Garcons’s
founder Rei Kawakubo was the one who introduced it to the industry. Now, other brands such as
Jacquemus, Bottega Venetta, Dior, and even Hermes have been going in that direction.
Indeed, Interesting and impressive examples of Pop-Up Stores can now be seen around the world.
Jacquemus known for being the serial of surreal pops ups all around the world, outdid themselves with
the installation of a Pop Up store in the Selfridges Mews in London, where they installed a massive 24-
hour vending machine that dispenses their top-selling Chiquito and Bambino bags, located directly behind
the Oxford Street store. Another immersive experience called Le Vestiaire was put in place for Londoners,
which transports customers through a surrealist swimming pool and rooms with 3D sensory experiences.

What is impressive is that even Hermes, the worldwide known luxury brand that has always been very
conservative in its approach when it comes to consumer’s shopping experience for its leather goods and
silk scarf, hopped on to the Pop-Up store trend to celebrate the 80th anniversary of its iconic silk scarf,
by introducing in different cities all around the world: the “Hermesmatic”. “Hermesmatic” is no other
than a pop-up store in which Hermes created a space where customers could get their silk scarves dyed,
opening mostly big cities such as Paris, NY, LA, Geneva and Kyoto, free of charge, for 48 hours only.
This Hermes pop up generated buzz all around the world as it was very unconventional and new from the
brand itself.

Hence, these Pop-up stores examples from different levels of luxury brands and many others prove the
extent to which luxury brands are going to ensure new and out of the ordinary shopping experiences to
attract customers from all ages. So by introducing fun experiences in- store and putting forward exclusive
products to their pop ups. Other types of Pop-Up shops have also been introduced where brands opted
for creating immersive experiences which do not include sales of goods or any display of merchandise. In
fact, some brands decided to take this concept further by carrying no merchandise and focusing on
community engagement only, inviting visitors to just enjoy the experience. Bottega Veneta did so last year
when they staged a playful maze installation in Seoul that offered a unique interactive encounter where
sales were not included

Those very innovative and new concepts all around the world show that the luxury fashion industry has
once again proved itself to its customers when it comes to providing innovation and uniqueness, showing
the everlasting excitement of fashion. While luxury brands are aimed for everyone, they are also
experimenting in other ways, by making a shift into appealing to their new clientele, who are millennials
and Gen Z .

To conclude, pop ups are working perfectly right now for most luxury brands as it's generating exactly the
buzz and attention these brands are aiming for whether through unanticipated locations, extraordinary
concepts or venues. In my opinion, as consumers expect more and more of value in all different stages of
their shopping journey, very thought out and out of the ordinary experiences are becoming very quickly
the new normal as customer's preferences are changing at a heart beat rate leaving retailers always at
the quest of novelty to impress customers.

As a result retailers are becoming faster in adapting new concepts based mainly on more creative in store
installations, experiences which include selling merchandise or just focused on community engagement
only and also the idea of rotating pop up stores full of innovation and novelty to keep feeding their
customers interest alongside the brand awareness that comes with it, but also to attract new customers.

Nevertheless, I believe at a certain point in the Pop-Up stores journey, retailers will eventually reach a
certain point where no matter the amount of novelty or extraordinariness these pop up stores will be
providing, customers will want something different.