When thinking about your startup and products that you have to sell, you may have been convinced that selling offline is too risky and can cost you more to do than you are going to make. You might have even heard horror stories about dealing with nightmare customers in person and running out of things that your customers want.
But your business could be missing out on a major opportunity to get showcased and launch new products. Having premises that you rent full-time can be costly. But temporary retail, or a pop-up shop, can be a low-cost initiative to try. Very little commitment and money is needed which is why it can be a good for startups to be thinking about.
Still a little wary as to if this would work for you? Then here are a few tips reasons why a pop-up could be beneficial to your business, especially as you start out.
Test a revenue stream
Having a pop-up store is a good way to test a variety of things; customer reaction to products, as well as a way to explore another revenue stream for your business. The reason why it can be good is that it doesn’t have as many costs as a full-time store would, but you can make a pretty significant amount of money if you’re in the right place at the right time. There won’t be much money to pay upfront, so you can make some good turnover in just a short amount of time.
Engage with customers
When you only sell online, it can be hard to get the feedback that you might need. If someone is browsing your online store and decides that one of your products isn’t for them, then they will simply click off and you can’t find out what why they didn’t complete the purchase. When you’re able to speak face to face with a customer, you can get their feedback. Is the price point right? What do they think of your deals? It can give you some valuable feedback to help you down the line.
Try new products
If you’re thinking of a new product to launch to market, then why not try it out as part of a pop-up shop? Many food retailers do just this, to test reaction before going into full production. All you’d need to get is something like a refrigerated display case and some take away food boxes and they could try your new creation. Getting instant feedback from consumers can be the thing that could make or break your the new product idea.
Creating exclusivity
If there is a feeling of exclusivity around a product launch, or a get it before it is gone mentality, then it can create a huge buzz around the product, which is great for a startup or a new product launch. When marketed well, a pop-up shop can give you the exclusivity that you need as customers will only have a certain amount of time to come and get it.