Get answers to frequently asked questions about pop up stores
Pop up stores are everywhere now – music festivals, sporting events, shopping malls, public parks, libraries, and maybe you’ve hosted a store-in-store pop up in your retail location.
Pop up stores are everywhere because they work. However, this doesn’t mean it’s easy to design and launch a successful branded pop up store. You have questions about pop up store logistics, retail design, benefits, and best practices.
In this blog, we answer the most frequently asked questions about branded pop up stores, giving you insights and guidance to help you deliver an outstanding pop up store experience.
Q. What Is A Branded Pop Up Store?
A. A branded pop up store is a temporary retail space that brands use to promote and build customer awareness. While branded pop up stores can do and be anything you want, they often fall into one of three categories: testing and launching products, brand awareness and marketing, or customer engagement.
A branded pop up store typically operates for a few days to a few months, depending on its purpose. Key to a successful pop up store is choosing the right location to maximize foot traffic and customer awareness.
A branded pop up store is a modern approach to retailing. If you can imagine it – it can be a pop up store.
Q. What Are the Benefits of Creating a Pop Up Store for My Brand?
A. The benefits of creating a pop up store for your brand include:
- Elevated Brand Awareness: pop up stores are an excellent way to get your brand in front of new people and to remind loyal customers of your products and brand uniqueness.
- Customer Engagement: the nature of pop up stores lends itself to direct interaction and communication with your customers. This helps imprint your brand, develop loyalty, build customer trust, and establish an emotional connection with your brand.
- Product Testing: a pop up store is an ideal way to get direct and immediate customer feedback on products and features. Design your pop up to encourage face-to-face communication and hands-on product testing.
- Testing Physical Locations: a pop up is an ideal way to test a location for foot traffic, demographics, gauge local customer interest, and to measure brand awareness in the area.
- Encourages Customer Participation: many pop ups are designed to do more than sell – they are used to engage and excite people about the brand. When this happens, people are compelled to take photos and share their experiences online. This helps build brand “buzz” and fosters a deeper connection with your brand.
Q. Who Likes Pop Up Stores?
A. Pop up stores are popular with a wide cross-section of people. In fact, nearly every demographic is drawn to pop up stores.
Here’s a broad breakdown of the people who favor pop up stores:
- Experience Seekers: people who want something different from their shopping experience are drawn to pop up stores. Done right, a pop up shop stimulates curiosity, engages people, and creates a vibrant and eclectic shopping experience.
- Trend Seekers: people who are on the lookout for the latest in fashion, music, technology, and brand collaborations get excited about pop up stores. This is a primary reason many brands use pop up stores to showcase and test new products.
- Millennials and Generation Z: these young shoppers are all about the experience and being entertained while shopping. A pop up store gives you creative retail design freedom, letting you test technology, digital integrations, augmented and virtual reality, and brand messaging.
- Curious Shoppers: store-in-store pop ups, brand collaborations, and truly innovative retail designs draw these people in. An element of surprise, the thrill of the unknown, discovering a new brand, retail concept, or product, or being the first person in a social group to discover and share a pop up store on social media are all drivers of curiosity.
Q. What Is the Difference Between a Pop Up Store and Store-In-Store?
A. The primary difference between a pop up store and a store-in-store is the location and relationship to existing retail spaces.
- Location: pop up stores are independent, freestanding retail installations while a store-in-store operates insides another retail store.
- Foot Traffic: whereas store-in-stores benefit from the existing host store’s customer base and traffic, pop up stores rely on people noticing them and taking a chance on walking in.
- Design: a store-in-store is typically a smaller and simpler retail installation than a branded pop up store, which needs to entice people to stop and visit it. However, pop up stores often have more freedom with their retail design since they are not constrained by the host retailer’s space and design ethos.
- Branding: some people may not even realize they’re browsing a store-in-store if it has a very simple design, making it challenging to build brand awareness and loyalty. Because a standalone pop up store gives you design freedom, you have greater opportunities to build brand awareness and loyalty.
Q. How Can I Come Up With Retail Design Ideas for My Pop Up Store?
A. To come up with retail design ideas for your pop up store, ask yourself and your team these questions:
- Why are we planning a pop up store?
- Who do we want to visit our pop up shop?
- Where are the people we want to attract to our pop up store?
- What do we want to highlight, feature, and communicate with our branded pop up store?
- When is the best time to host a pop up shop – should it be seasonal, event-based, or permanent?
- How are we marketing the pop up store and how will people find us?
Answering these questions can help you think beyond the boundaries of a traditional brick-and-mortar retail space.
There are no limits on your pop up store design. But remember, your pop up store needs to appeal to your target customers – think of them throughout the design and installation process.
Q. What Are the Key Design Elements of a Successful Pop Up Store?
A. The key design elements of a successful pop up store include:
- Space: how you use space is critical. Your pop up store likely won’t have a large footprint, so every square foot matters. Think about how you want people to engage with each other and your products. Do you want people to spend a long time in your store?
- Decompression Zone: just like in your brick-and-mortar store, an inviting entrance is key to attracting and welcoming people to your pop up store. Consider using retail fixtures and millwork that align with your brick-and-mortar store design to create brand familiarity and comfort.
- Lighting: think about where your store is located and the surrounding lighting. Be mindful of creating too much light or overwhelming people with flashing and distracting lights. Lighting, like music is integral to setting the right tone and vibe for your pop up location.
- Graphic Installations: your graphics need to resonate with the “why” behind your pop up. If you’re launching a new brand or product – your graphics, signage, and displays need to make this obvious.
- Visual Merchandising: there is nothing worse than a cluttered and crowded pop up store. Think “less is more.” Narrow down your goals for your pop up shop and stay focused on them. Use modern and flexible fixtures and millwork to highlight your products and enhance the pop up store experience.
Q. What Are the Latest Retail Design and Installation Trends In Pop Up Retail Stores?
A. The great thing about retail design and installation for pop up retail stores is that there are no rules – anything goes!
However, we do know that these key retail design and installation trends are very popular right now with shoppers:
- Immersive and Interactive Experiences: pop up stores are ideal settings for product demonstrations, workshops, and events. Give people a reason beyond shopping to visit your pop up store.
- Digital Integrations: touchscreens, QR codes, smart mirrors, kiosks, interactive walls, 3D printing, product customization labs, live event feeds, and more – the sky really is the limit with how you use technology in your pop up store.
- Belonging, Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, and Accessibility (DEIA): ensuring your pop up store is welcoming to everyone should be a retail design focus. Think about creating a multi-sensory experience using distinct and clear signage, displays, music, and tactile product interactions.
- Sustainability: from your signage, fixtures, and displays through to the structure, aim for reusable and multi-functional design elements that can be repurposed in other pop up locations or even incorporated into your brick-and-mortar store.
- Instagram-Worthy Retail Design: incorporate visually appealing and shareable elements in your pop up store to encourage social media posting and sharing. Consider creating dedicated space in your pop up store for Instagram, TikTok, and other social media channels.
If you have additional questions about branded pop up stores or pop up store design and installation, contact us – we’re happy to help you.
Real-Life Branded Pop Up Store Examples
Use these four examples of real-life branded pop up stores to help spark conversations about your pop up store options and ideas. Remember, your pop up store can be whatever you want. And if it hasn’t been done before – even better!
- Footlocker’s Home Court pop up: a branded collaboration with Nike and Jordan Brands, this pop up stands out for its longevity and community focus.
This year-long pop up is centered around community engagement, featuring basketball clinics, skills and drills workshops, 5 x 5 games, sneaker tests and trials, athlete appearances, shoe customization stations, and more. The truly unique aspect of this branded pop up is that it moves around from city to city – increasing its reach, buzz, and building brand loyalty. - Aldo’s Pillow Walk pop up: is a great example of how to promote new products and create unique user-generated content to build brand buzz and awareness.
Unlike many pop up stores, people could not buy anything in this pop up. Instead gift cards were given to pop up store visitors who posted on Instagram, tagged Aldo, and used Aldo’s designated hashtags. - Sharpie x Paper Mate Studio pop up: this SXSW 2024 pop up had it all – eye-catching graphics and signage, interactive and engaging spaces for visitors to relax and test out new products from Sharpie and Paper Mate, workshops and Q & A’s with celebrities, and more.
This is a great example of how much you can do with your pop up store. Rather than just hosting workshops or creating a lounge area, this pop up did it all. It created a hub for people to visit and relax in during SXSW – creating a temporary third space for people. - Glossier Pop Ups: there may be no other brand as synonymous with pop up stores and events as Glossier. This DTC beauty brand is an expert at using pop up stores to create band buzz, connect with new markets, launch products, and build brand loyalty.
Featuring location specific designs and themes, immersive experiences, exclusive product launches, community events such as movie screenings, and visually appealing designs that automatically lend themselves to Instagram-worthy photos – there is nothing boring about a Glossier pop up store.
Each of these branded pop up store examples has one thing in common – a focus on strengthening customer relationships to improve brand awareness and loyalty.
These brands know who they are and the story they want to tell customers. What story do you want to tell with your pop up store?
At Dynamic, our unique combination of IN-HOUSE offerings makes us your single source provider for all your retail design, planning, installation, and construction needs. No one understands retail installation better than we do.
Contact us to learn how we handle any aspect of your business – from an individual branded pop up store to a global brand roll-out.