3 Tips to Running a Successful Pop-up Store to Boost Traffic

Boosting visibility and performance has become paramount for retailers all around the world as they work their way towards their customer’s top of mind. Keeping the customer experience at the forefront of digital transformation, marketing strategies have shifted their focus to pop-up stores to help ease, attract, and wow new and existing customers.

From carvings in giant ice blocks in Russia to a museum display of Michael Jordan’s shoes in New Orleans, pop-up stores offer retailers the possibility to go above and beyond in building a strong connection with their brand via an ephemeral experience. As we dive deeper into the success and strategies behind pop-up stores, let’s first understand their impact and how industry giants have adopted them to build awareness and interest in their products and brands.

According to a recent survey conducted by Storefront and the University of South Carolina College of Retail, 80% of global retail companies have opened a successful pop-up store, with a 58% of the stores surveyed stating that they’ll likely use this tactic again in the future. Even industry giants such as Amazon are placing pop-up stores strategically in the right position at malls, enough to stop potential department store shoppers right in their tracks, so they don’t shop at the competition.

The cost-effective approach helps build the bigger picture—pop-up stores offer exposure in a new channel and a chance to test-run a physical store, boosting all sorts of traffic. Whether you’re a startup or an experienced retail store owner, you can enhance the B2C experience and attract more customers to your pop-up store with the following three marketing strategies. 

1. Location is Everything

The success behind Amazon’s pop-up stores paying off and returning (and then some) their investment is the strategic location requiring minimum effort to attract customers and steer them away from the competition.

However, you don’t have to be a retail giant to start experiencing these results. One of the biggest pain points retailers face is getting traffic to their event or venue while setting up these seasonal pop-up stores. To target a broad audience, the key is to get a solid validation through an address already known and commonly visited by consumers.

Picture this, let’s say a small business is setting up a tent outside of a park. They will only target those potential customers that visit this park every day, limiting their offering and sales. Yet, if this same small business decides to leverage the flexibility of moving their pop-up store to a Wal-Mart parking lot, for instance, they can build a clear and strong promotional strategy driving potential business to a prominent location. As users already become familiar with the site, businesses can easily grow through word of mouth and referrals; building on customer engagement and loyalty. 

2. Ensure a Google Listing

After you’ve secured a popular location, it’s time to cement your strategy with a Google Listing verification. Nowadays, with the digital transformation shaping up every industry, having a strong online presence is no longer a suggestion but a necessity to help businesses stay afloat and competitive. There’s no better way for small-to-medium business (SMB) owners to gain credibility and validation from customers than by having the largest search engine on their side, Google.

Listing your business on Google will allow your customers to share, review, and visit your store easily and at their convenience. The best thing you can do to help your customers visit your pop-up store is constantly update your information—from business hours to working days, and update pictures. 

3. Leverage Social Media and CRM

Is your product or service seasonal? The beauty of pop-up stores is that they offer complete flexibility in operating hours and even locations. Yet, one thing must always remain the same to ensure engagement and success—constant communication with customers.

As we all know, starting a business is no easy feat, and there might be times when we need to be absent to recalibrate strategies or stock up on inventory and supplies. However, communication platforms like social media and CRMs help make this task easier for entrepreneurs.

Obtaining valuable customer data is like digging for gold, and the more we have of it, the better our offering and content. One way to do this is by setting up a customer database when processing payments so you can keep an open line of communication with your users and consumers. Even if your business is away for a few months, don’t stay idle and send your customers relevant content, from blogs to general updates, to build anticipation and ensure more future sales.

Need to create a catalog or extend your business online without necessarily building an e-commerce site? Platforms like Instagram offer this feature with the ability to link your google listing and consequently win more traffic to your location. 

In sum, there’s an instantly perceived value in pop-up stores for retailers across all industries. If there ever was a growing fear that online and e-commerce stores would take over the retail world following the pandemic’s aftermath, pop-up stores make a strong counterpart.

Small businesses can scale and grow their brand through multiple store locations and don’t need to focus on finding an expensive shop location that can quickly eat up their profit. Building on resilience and focusing on your customer experience, you can literally make businesses walk up to you.