Getting your business recognised: how to set up a successful pop-up shop
Photo by Artem Beliaikin from Pexels
Whether you’re a small business that’s just breaking into the market or a larger business looking to expand, a great way of getting the word out about your business is through pop-up shops.
These branded spaces, which can exist within their own premises or multi-brand retail environments can prove to be invaluable in the long term. And with the market being worth over £2 billion, the beneficial gain is also hard to ignore.
Of course, at the moment due to the pandemic, it might not seem like the right time. But with signs of growth in many markets, it could be a great time to start planning on setting your own pop-up shop. But how do you do this in an effective way that will ensure that this opportunity is a success? Here are 5 steps you can take:
Create specific and attainable goals
After making the decision to set up a pop-up shop or branded space within a multi-retail environment, it’s vital that you create specific, realistic and attainable goals. Whether this is to test new products or services, determine how successful your shop would be in that location, increase brand awareness or clear your backlog of products, you need to create these goals early on.
Think about the finances
Once you have goals in mind, you’ll need to determine how you will finance the pop-up. Not only will this include the price of the premise/stand itself (which can vary hugely depending on the location), but the salaries of the staff, VAT rates and thresholds, etc. Details that should be within your business plan, it will ensure that you’re on the right path from the get-go.
Select a suitable location
An undeniably important step in the process is selecting a location that’s suitable for your pop-up shop. A key factor that determines its success, you’ll want to research into the best locations available in terms of price and how much attention it will attain from customers.
As well as multi-brand retail environments and simple shop premises, it’s also worth thinking more creatively – such as creating a pop-up shop within a unique environment like a mobile home for example. Of course, this will depend on what you are selling to customers. But the more extraordinary your pop-up shop is, the more interest will drum up.
Consider the details
As well as location, you want to guarantee that your pop-up shop/s showcase your brand perfectly. This is why it’s important to consider what fittings are within the shop, how your merchandise/services are visualised, what payment system you’ll use, etc. You want to capture your customers’ attention the moment that they walk past it after all.
Get the word out
Ahead of opening up your pop-up store, you want to build a buzz in advance. You don’t want to come to open day and no one shows up. So it’s important to focus on advertising this – whether it’s through press releases, social media etc. Spreading the word about this exciting venture, it will guarantee that you have a successful opening day. From then on, you should continue these marketing efforts so that it’s profitable in the long run.
We hope this has helped you in your venture of setting up a pop-up shop. A step that can increase brand awareness, boost profits and act as a way to test new products and services, there’s no reason why every business shouldn’t consider it.
