Making the Most of Your Pop-portunity

Every pop-up shop is as unique as the brand that created it, with its own set of opportunities and limitations. Regardless of size or format, building a successful pop-up means making the right decisions about how the space flows, product visibility, and customer experience. Here are some key considerations when planning and operating your brand’s pop-up — tips and tricks designed to ensure the brand takes full advantage of the marketing opportunity:

Create a Distinctive, On-Brand Look and Feel

Inside and out, your pop-up shop should look and feel like your brand. This can be achieved by using the same colors, fonts, and other design elements as your product’s packaging or other marketing/advertising materials.

The goal is to create a cohesive visual theme that sets a tone for the shop and makes it visually appealing. Clear, concise signage helps orient visitors so they understand not only which brand is represented but also what your brand’s products are and do. Calls to action should encourage customers to sample and buy products on the spot, sign up for your email list, take quizzes, visit your website for more information — any action that moves them closer to conversion from interested bystander to loyal customer.

One example: For its recent pop-ups, beauty brand Amika and Promobile created a fun, inviting mini-world that immersed visitors in the brand’s visual identity through the use of saturated colors and cheerful fonts that matched the brand’s packaging.

Finally, consider influences beyond your brand’s visual identity, says brightpearl.com: “Using themes, designing your store around a particular holiday or key shopping date, or partnering with a nationally recognized event such as Small Business Saturday can all influence the design your shop should take.”

Optimize Customer Flow

“When choosing the perfect layout for your pop-up shop, you’ll want one that can seamlessly guide your customers throughout the entire space and retail experience,” says thestorefront.com.

Begin by creating a buffer zone, or “decompression zone,” near the front door. This is the first 5 to 15 feet of the space, where customers transition from outside to inside and take in the overall view as they enter. “Any products displayed in this area may be overlooked, so keep it free of merchandise or promotions you really want customers to see.”

About 90% of people turn right upon entering a store, so think of that wall as your “power wall,” and use it to draw attention to products, promotions, new products, or other merchandise you want customers to notice.

From there, think about the customer’s next move, and arrange your most appealing displays at key points along that path. Whether your pop-up is laid out in a loop — which guides customers on a circular route through the shop — a grid with clear aisles, or another pattern, “create visual breaks or speed bumps to slow customers down and make sure they notice your merchandise instead of just browsing.” Impulse items, signage, and popular products can serve this purpose.

When selecting products for your pop-up, resist the temptation to show everything — the pop-up shouldn’t feel crowded. Leave ample room for customers to move and browse comfortably without feeling cramped by displays or each other, and ensure that the layout is accessible for customers with disabilities.

Incorporate Technology Where Appropriate

Technology can accomplish a lot in your pop-up. In addition to tracking customers’ behavior as they move through the shop, tablets, kiosks, and digital displays can be used to help customers learn more about products and gather data like email addresses and demographic information.

Tech can also improve the flow of customers through the shop and ensure smooth interactions between customers and staff: “Arm your staff with iPads to process transactions on the spot,” to avoid long lines at check-out, says thestorefront.com.

Create opportunities for selfies and group photos to give customers share-worthy images and provide user-generated content you can use to promote the brand and the shop. Photo booths are one way to accomplish this; green screens and “selfie walls” are another. Use QR codes and your social media handles and hashtags on printed materials and signage to make sharing easy.

Carefully Curate Product Selection and Placement

Pop-ups are usually smaller than traditional retail spaces, so space is at a premium. If your brand has a lot of products, the space may not be able to accommodate all of them without feeling crowded and disorganized. Choose products carefully, says a recent blog post, “work around your main products, and be sure they tell a coherent story and make sense while displayed together.”

Highlight key products via prominent placement and displays to showcase your most important products (or those with the highest margins). Look for opportunities to use product placement and shop design to tell a story or create a mood. For example, Amika created a series of rooms for a recent pop-up, each saturated in the color of a particular product line and designed to look like bathrooms — perfect for hair care products that customers will likely use in their own bathrooms and dressing areas as part of their daily personal-care routine.

Limited-edition — or pop-up only — products can create a sense of urgency and FOMO. If the pop-up is launching a new product, emphasizing the product’s newness, or a “sneak peek” attendees get by visiting the pop-up, builds a sense of anticipation and exclusivity.

Similarly, if there are only a few items left of a popular product, let customers know to create a sense of scarcity.

Display Products Thoughtfully

Space is limited in a pop-up, so think about creative ways to organize and display products:

• Use vertical wall space with shelving or hanging displays to expand display space and maximize your selling area.
• Add interest to horizontal spaces by using risers or stands to create different levels.
• Use lighting strategically to both create ambiance and draw the eye toward products you want to highlight.
• Group complementary products together to encourage impulse purchases — e.g., shampoo and conditioner.
• Incorporate interactive displays or elements to encourage customer engagement with your products.
• Create opportunities for engagement with brand ambassadors by offering product demonstrations, workshops, or other interactive experiences.

Make the Most of the Opportunity

A pop-up is much more than a sales event — it’s also an opportunity to interact directly with your brand’s target audience to introduce them to your products and get feedback about how your brand and products are perceived.

A pop-up is also an opportunity to gather customer data. Capture customer information through email signups or surveys to build relationships and inform future marketing efforts.

Interview or survey pop-up staff or brand ambassadors during and after the event to find out how customers respond, what questions they ask, and any problems or confusion they encounter.

By considering these tips and tailoring them to your brand, you can create a pop-up that effectively guides customers, showcases your products, and delivers a memorable, positive brand experience.

Promobile Marketing is a dynamic experiential marketing agency based in New York City. For over a decade, Promobile Marketing has collaborated with a range of brands—from budding startups to major CPG brands—on immersive marketing campaigns. Get in touch to discuss your next project.