Pop-up Retailing: Managerial and Strategic Perspectives

99 Pages·2018·2.644 MB·English

by  Gary Warnaby,Charlotte Shi (auth.)

SPRINGER BRIEFS IN BUSINESS
Gary Warnaby
Charlotte Shi
Pop-up Retailing
Managerial
and Strategic
Perspectives
123
SpringerBriefs in Business
Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttp://www.springer.com/series/8860
Gary Warnaby (cid:129) Charlotte Shi
Pop-up Retailing
Managerial and Strategic Perspectives
GaryWarnaby CharlotteShi
InstituteofPlaceManagement SchoolofArtandDesign
ManchesterMetropolitanUniversity NottinghamTrentUniversity
Manchester,UnitedKingdom Nottingham,UnitedKingdom
ISSN2191-5482 ISSN2191-5490 (electronic)
SpringerBriefsinBusiness
ISBN978-3-319-71373-1 ISBN978-3-319-71374-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71374-8
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2017959054
©TheAuthor(s)2018
Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpartof
the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission
or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or
dissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexempt
fromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse.
Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformationinthis
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained
hereinor for anyerrors oromissionsthat may havebeenmade. Thepublisher remainsneutralwith
regardtojurisdictionalclaimsinpublishedmapsandinstitutionalaffiliations.
Printedonacid-freepaper
ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbySpringerNature
TheregisteredcompanyisSpringerInternationalPublishingAG
Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland
Contents
1 IntroducingthePop-upConcept. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 TheOriginsofPop-upRetailing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 DefiningPop-upRetailing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2 CharacteristicsofPop-up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2 Ephemeral. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3 Experiential. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.4 Flexible. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.4.1 SpatialFlexibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.4.2 StrategicFlexibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.5 Novelty:AnUnderpinningCharacteristicofPop-up?. . . . . . . . . 22
2.6 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3 ClassifyingPop-upActivities. . .. . . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . 25
3.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.2 ClassifyingPop-upsbyLocation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.3 ClassifyingPop-upsbyFunction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.4 ANewClassificatorySchema. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.5 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4 Pop-up’sAcademicAntecedents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.2 StoreEnvironments/Atmospherics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.3 CustomerExperienceManagement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.4 EventManagement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.5 Pop-upsasRetail‘Territories’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.6 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
v
vi Contents
5 IntroducingaFrameworkforPlanningandImplementing
Pop-upActivities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.2 DevelopingaConceptualFramework. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.2.1 StrategicObjectivesStage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.2.2 PrePop-upStage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.2.3 Pop-upExperienceStage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5.2.4 PostPop-upStage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
5.3 TakingaCustomerPerspective. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
5.4 DevelopingandInformingtheConceptualFramework. . . . . . . . 47
5.5 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
6 PlanningandImplementingPop-upActivities:Strategic
Objectives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
6.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
6.2 IncreasingBrandAwareness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
6.3 InfluencingBrandAssociations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
6.4 PromotingSeasonal/LimitedCollectionProducts. . . . . . . . . . . . 50
6.5 EngagingCustomers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
6.6 GatheringCustomerInsight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
6.7 TestingMarketConcepts. . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . 51
6.8 FacilitatingStrategicGrowth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
6.9 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
7 PlanningandImplementingPop-upActivities:PrePop-up
Stage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
7.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
7.2 Timing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
7.3 Location. . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . 56
7.4 StoreAtmospherics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
7.5 OperatingPracticalities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
7.6 MarketingCommunications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
7.7 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
8 PlanningandImplementingPop-upActivities:ThePop-up
Experience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
8.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
8.2 SocialEnvironment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
8.3 DigitalEngagement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
8.4 StoreAtmospherics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
8.5 ProductAssortment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
8.6 Promotion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
8.7 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Contents vii
9 PlanningandImplementingPop-upActivities:PostPop-up
Stage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
9.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
9.2 PackingUpandMovingOn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
9.3 MeasuringandEvaluatingSuccess. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
9.4 MaintainingMomentum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
9.5 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
10 AComprehensiveFrameworkforPlanningandImplementing
Pop-upActivities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
10.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
10.2 AComprehensiveConceptualFramework. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
10.3 Establishedvs.EmergentBrands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
10.3.1 StrategicObjectives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
10.3.2 Pre-pop-upStage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
10.3.3 ThePop-upExperience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
10.3.4 Post-pop-up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
10.4 AnEmergingPop-up‘Industry’?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
10.5 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
11 ACriticalPerspectiveonthePop-upConcept. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
11.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
11.2 TheImplicationsofPop-upinanUrbanContext. . . . . . . . . . . . 84
11.3 RetailIndustryImplicationsofPop-up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
11.4 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Chapter 1
Introducing the Pop-up Concept
1.1 Introduction
Pop-up retailing—also known by such terms as ‘flash’, ‘temporary’, ‘guerrilla
retailing’ etc.—is essentially a simple concept; namely, an ephemeral retail-
oriented setting which can facilitate direct, experientially-oriented customer-
brand interaction for a limited period. In recent years, the ‘pop-up’ epithet has
become ever more commonplace, applied to a variety of commercial activities,
from shops, bars and restaurants to cinemas and galleries, as well as to various
brand-oriented promotional initiatives where pop-up activity can be used, for
example as part of the launch strategies for new products and/or seasonal
merchandise. According to estimates from the Centre for Economic and Business
Research (CEBR 2015), in the UK in the 12 months to August 2015, the pop-up
retail sector generated sales of over £2.3 billion (up from £2.1 billion for the
equivalent period in 2014), which is equivalent to 0.76% of the total UK retail
turnover.
Arguably, pop-up has become a mainstream retail strategy, used not only by
business start-ups to test an initial brand concept, but also by established retailers
(both traditional and online) to complement their more mainstream business
activities.AsCEBRstates:
Withestablishedretailersmovingintothepop-upmarketandsuccessfulpop-upretailers
makeaquicktransitionfrompop-upintootherwellestablishedformats,thelinesbetween
pop-upandtraditionalretailarefadingfast(2015,p.4).
Indeed,pop-upretailingcancontributetoarangeofbusinessobjectives.These
include,forexample,thecommunicationoforganisational/brandvaluesandother
relevantinformation(Kimetal.2010;deLassusandAnidoFreire2014);increas-
ingsales(especiallyinmarketscharacterisedbyanintrinsicperiodicity);andasa
less risky means of testing market potential in new consumer segments or
geographicalareas(Pomodoro2013;Picot-Coupey2014).
©TheAuthor(s)2018 1
G.Warnaby,C.Shi,Pop-upRetailing,SpringerBriefsinBusiness,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71374-8_1
2 1 IntroducingthePop-upConcept
Todate,thereisalimitedamountofacademicresearchintopop-upretailing.The
existing literature can be viewed as essentially split between practitioner-focused
overviews of the phenomenon in an urban context (e.g. Beekmans and de Boer
2014),or“Howto...”manuals(e.g.Gonzalez2014;Norsig2011;Thompson2012),
andmoreovertlyacademicresearch.Thisacademicresearchhasfocusedprimarily
onconsumers’assessmentsofpop-upstoresandthespecificdemographiccharac-
teristics of target customers of pop-up stores (e.g. Niehm et al. 2006; Taube and
Warnaby2017).Additionally,researchhasconsideredthewaysinwhichconsumer
behaviouralintentionstowardspop-upactivityareaffectedbypsychographicsand
othercharacteristics(e.g.Kimetal.2010;deLassusandAnidoFreire2014).
More recently, pop-up retailing has been analysed more extensively from the
perspective of the organisations implementing this activity. This research has
considered, for example, motivations underpinning the use of the pop-up format
(see Pomodoro 2013; Surchi 2011; Warnaby et al. 2015), and the benefits and
operationalimplicationsofusingpop-upactivities,relatingtosuchissuesasstore
design(deLassusandAnidoFreire2014)andsocialmedia(Kleinetal.2016).The
aim of this book is to develop further our understanding of this organisational
perspective on pop-up retailing, by considering pop-up retailing as a means of
facilitating strategic growth by retail brands. Drawing on academic theory from
such areas as retail store environments/atmospherics, customer experience man-
agement and event management, this book provides a more overtly academic
analysis of the planning and implementation issues arising from the inherent
ephemerality of pop-up activities, in order to achieve the strategic objectives of
retailbrands.However,beforedoingthis,itisperhapsusefultodiscusstheorigins
ofthepop-upconcept,andpreviousattemptsatitsdefinition.
1.2 The Origins of Pop-up Retailing
Kle´pierrewithQualiquanti(2016,p.14)suggestthatcities“havehistoricallybeen
places of transition and movement”, and that pop-up is “a response to the fluid
nature of cities and the need for brands to come alive”. They identify various
possible urban precursors of pop-up, including, markets, travelling merchants
(i.e.fleamarkets,secondhandtraders,kiosksetc.),travellingtheatre,tradeshows
andworldfairs,andUSblockparties(i.e.neighbourhoodcelebrations).Marciniak
and Budnarowska (2009) highlight the importance of the periodic market as an
historicalantecedentofthemodern pop-upconcept.Variousfactorsthatdifferen-
tiatetheperiodicmarketfromothertypesofretailing(seeDewarandWatson1990;
Elmsetal.2013;Sherry1990)—includinglimitedduration,theform/morphology
ofthemarket,anditsfunction(botheconomicandsocial/festive)—haveresonance
with pop-up, and the characteristics of pop-up will be explored in more detail in
Chap.2.
Pop-up retailing can be viewed as a modern-day manifestation of temporary
retailing,butwithrootsdatingfarbacktothetemporarystructuresusedforperiodic