1) Engage Customers Offline
Part of the buyers’ offline journey is being able to touch and engage with the garment making the purchase much easier. Online shopping does not allow for that type of experience. Also, if your brand is known for its outstanding staff and customer service, positive offline engagement is vital for an online purchasing conversion. According to a study by Accenture, 78% of shoppers are “webrooming”(browsing online and then making the purchase in a store.)
According to the BBC, 63% of online clothes shoppers returned one or more items. If your fashion brand offers free shipping and free returns, that is an expensive cost of doing business. While having a generous return policy is a unique selling proposition, it does cut into the bottom line. The alternative to solve this dilemma is to start a pop-up store tour. This could be more cost effective if your brand experiences high return rates and has a generous return policy.
2) Create “Get It While It Lasts” Urgency and Tap Into “Massclusivity”
Here is a retail fact for you: 54% of consumers use their devices to compare prices or “showroom” in 2015, and by in 2017 that number should be closer to 70%. Showrooming occurs when a consumer enters a brick & mortar retail environment, touches the fashion garments and accessories, window shops, and then utilizes their smart phone to read reviews, compare prices, and locate the best purchase price possible online.
However, there is something in the human psyche that when an item is scarce it causes people to take action. For example, when someone walks into a pop-up store, the idea that the items will not be around for very long causes consumers to purchase an item on the spot. This concept works twice as well if what you are selling in your pop-up storefront is nowhere else to be found and is a special promotion for whatever time length your pop-up is there. If you do not believe the power of scarcity, just think of Kanye West’s Adidas Yeezy Boost 750s sold out in seconds creating a frenzy.
3) Market Fashion Merchandise Around a Sale, Season, Holiday or Theme
What if Dreamweaver Brand Communications was to tell you that holiday spending in 2016 exceeded $1 trillion dollars in the United States. In total, those shoppers spent as much as $419 on holiday-related items.
Part of your fashion marketing plan could include strategically choosing select holidays to maximize current consumer trends with a pop-up shops. For example, you could be a fashion brand that specializes in resort wear so to leverage your brand and merchandise, you open a pop up shop at a resort with high occupancy rates during February and March school breaks. When executed properly with intergrated fashion public relations and social media advertising before the pop-up, the results for your brand are outstanding. The opportunities and themes are endless for these type of pop-up opportunities.
4) Educate New Customers
Perhaps your fashion brand is an emerging one, and it has not made into the masses consumer subconscious, or you are a fashion brand transitioning from strictly an e-commerce storefront. Well, pop-up storefronts are great to raise brand awareness, drive pre-orders, allow customers that only know you as an online brand to engage with you offline, and to use a pop-up as a test for a brick & mortar location in a certain location.
A fantastic example which looked to pop-ups to build brand awareness and aid customers in better understanding their new Surface tablets is Microsoft. Also, Google used the pop-up shop modelto help customers understand their new Chromebook.
5) Test and Establish a New Revenue Stream
A touring pop-up store can be an additional revenue stream to established brick & mortar brands or chains or for your existing e-commerce fashion business. For example, Macy’s now has a mini Best Buy in certain locations. Pop-up storefronts do not require as much capital to get started and also, you could capitalize on current trends, holidays, or an event uses a pop-up storefront to evaluate future brick & mortar location.
6) Build Brand Awareness
With so many brick & mortar and online only retailers competing for consumers’ attention, it is challenging to stand out from the crowd. Whether you are try to increase earned media through social media engagement, using Instagram for business marketing, or to improve your site ranking all of those goals are difficult to accomplish in today’s multi-channel retail environment. Strategic pop-up stores can create buzz and solicit new customers who would have never found your fashion brand had it not been for a pop-up shop.
One of Dreamweaver Brand Communications favorite examples is a pop-shop done by the iconic brand Marc Jacobs promoting its Daisy fragrance line. Instead of accepting credit cards or cash, this pop-up accepted “social currency” in exchange for Marc Jacobs products. The “social currency” was in the form of a tweet of Instagram post with the hashtag #MJDaisyChain. This strategic social media marketing tactic is a perfect example of the flexibility and integration of pop-up shops into the marketing and fashion public relations mix.
Fashion Marketing and Pop-Up Shops: How an Agency can Help
The retail and fashion marketing landscape is evolving. Pop-up shops offer flexibility to enter new markets with minimal capital investment, capitalize on current or regional trends, and increase brand awareness. However, to maximize the benefits, fashion retailers need to align with an integrated marketing and PR agency to leverage all the benefits of pop-up shops. Not all pop-up shop locations are created equal nor do all fashion brands need to use the pop-up model.
Whether you are an established fashion brand seeking a new revenue stream or a new fashion designer looking to increase brand awareness; talk to Dreamweaver Brand Communications.
