design:retail - November/December 2017 - 6

editor's note

006

Permanent
Impermanence

ALISON EMBREY MEDINA
EDITOR IN CHIEF/ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

alison.medina@emeraldexpo.com
@dretaileditor

HETHER

"Being temporary
doesn't make
something matter
any less, because
the point isn't for
how long, the
point is that it
happened."

traditional retail lease lasts
20 years, as it
used to average
back in the
'90s, or five years (as they often average
today), there is a temporary-ness to retail
that doesn't exist in other industries. In
retail, all good things must (typically)
come to an end. As any store window
designer or visual merchandiser will
tell you, the fleeting nature of retail is
what makes it so beautiful and exciting.
Everything is built to someday be taken
down-whether in three days or three
decades. That's where the theater exists!
Enter the world of pop-up retail, where
temporary and fleeting has become the
new normal. The pop-up phenomenon
has been on the rise for the past decade,
fueled largely during the recession of the
last half of the 2000s. An abundance of
available retail real estate, powered by
empty storefronts and extremely low
lease rates, made the pop-up retail market soar
into overdrive. Now in 2017 and beyond, the trend
has not softened, but for different reasons: longterm massive real estate rollouts are less prevalent
in today's retail market, as retailers have embraced
a more adaptive, flexible and short-term approach
to new experiments and brand activations.
A go-to marketing strategy for many retailers
and brands, the pop-up retail industry has been
valued as high as $50 billion. From startups and
young e-commerce brands looking to establish
a brick-and-mortar presence to legacy global
brands attempting to test a new regional market

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM

-Robyn Schneider,
"Extraordinary Means"

or launch a new product or category, pop-up retail
has become mainstream. Some might even call it
a strategic necessity in today's rapidly changing
retail climate.
And shoppers have bought in, too. According to
a survey by PopUp Republic, 61 percent of shoppers list seasonal products as the main reason to
shop at a pop-up store. And we're not just talking about Christmas shopping here, folks. Think
Halloween costume pop-ups, summer swim and
sunwear shops, back-to-school fashion and supply shops-the possibilities are endless. But there
are other reasons pop-ups are attractive to

GLOBALSHOP.ORG

shoppers, according to the PopUp
Republic poll:
* Unique services/products (39 percent)
* Localized assortments (36 percent)
* Optimal pricing (34 percent)
* Convenience (33 percent) and
* A fun experience (30 percent)

"The great thing about pop-ups that
we find all across the board-whether
it's a pop-up store, pop-up restaurant or
event-is that they have this 'fear of missing out' (FOMO) quality to them," says
Jeremy Baras, CEO of PopUp Republic.
"Customers are attracted to exclusivity.
They're attracted to a 'here today, gone
tomorrow' type of concept."
Creating that "limited-time only"
urgency resonates with the FOMO
consumer-"If I don't go check out the
Museum of Ice Cream, I'll never be able
to Instagram a selfie in the pool of sprinkles!" (Search #MOIC if you want to see
what we're talking about here.)
In a consumer world where flash mobs
are a thing and social media can gain instant viral
marketing effectiveness, pop-ups are fueling a
whole new selfie-powered world. We are seeing experimentation flourish in cities across the
globe, with temporary storefronts and nomadic
retail presences giving retail the tools it needs to
be young and free, and open up to new customer
bases, regional markets and demographics.
Temporary is the new permanent.

http://www.DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM http://www.GLOBALSHOP.ORG

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