The Pop-Up Phenomenon

Comme Des Garcons guerilla store

Pop-up stores are the new trend sweeping the fashion industry. Comme des Garcons are credited with starting the concept of pop-up stores with their "guerilla stores" in 2004. Each guerilla store stays open for one year and the advertising is kept simple. The shop's location is spread by word of mouth or strategically placed posters. This helps build hype whilst maintaining brand exclusivity. 

Pop-up stores are retail shops which temporarily occupy a space. These days pop-up stores tend to be around for a couple of months, generally in areas of high foot traffic. This enables labels and storeholders who may not be located in a busy area, to gain exposure for their label or shop without being liable for long-term rental fees.

Many major retailers have used pop-up stores to spread their brand, including GAP and H&M. High-end labels such as Louis Vuitton, YSL and Stella McCartney have also used pop-up stores to introduce their brands to new audiences. Pop-up collaborations have also been popular, with GAP and Stella McCartney pairing up, Louis Vuitton and Comme Des Garcons joining forces, and Hermès and Liberty of London combining, just to name a few. Even eBay jumped on board the pop-up bandwagon, opening a pop-up store in 2009 in New York where internet kiosks and handheld tablets were made available to customers to shop the entire eBay Marketplace.

Pop-up stores offer a lot of benefits. They allow the renter to take risks with interior and stock selection of their products, without the costs associated with setting up a permanent store. They also don't require as much polish as a permanent stores. In fact, most take advantage of basic interiors. They also give retailers and designers a chance to effectively "try before they buy" i.e. allowing them to see how popular their stock will be in a certain area before committing to a long-term lease. 

However, retailers and designers need to be cautious when setting up pop-up stores. The focus of a pop-up store is not to make sales but rather to "raise brand awareness, engagement and about making an impact by interrupting the consumer with something relevant that adds value in some form."

In tough retail times and rental costs continuing to rise, could pop-up stores be the way of the future? It maybe too soon to tell but one thing's for sure, pop-up stores are proving to be a successful, low-cost option for retailers and designers and it is likely we will continue to see more and more of them in the future.

Check out some innovative pop-up shops from around the world:

H&M Beach Pop-up store

Hermès and Liberty of London concept store

eBay concept store

Aesop concept store

Sean John pop-up store

Stella McCartney pop-up store created by London
designer Giles Miller

Ksubi pop-up store

Louis Vuitton and Comme Des Garcon collaboration concept store

Wall of shoes in the Nike concept store

Lenko concept store in Melbourne Central

YSL pop up store

Cool Hunting for GAP concept store

Information sourced from http://www.theaestheticpoetic.com, http://www.marketingweek.co.uk

Images courtesy of http://hypebeast.com, htttp://trendland.net, http://seanjohn.com, http://dezeen.com, http://superfuture.com, http://blog.ilovelenko.com, http://luxurylaunches.com, http://www.thefashionfiend.com

Democratic Design

A term coined by the Wall Street Journal, “democratic design” represents the process of giving consumers the power to influence brands via the Internet. Traditionally, fashion editors and buyers have determined the styles that get produced, effectively acting as agents for consumers.

In a first for fashion, American designer Derek Lam has collaborated with eBay to produce a 16 piece collection which was voted on by consumers. The top 5 designs were chosen and revealed on 2 March 2011. These 5 designs will be produced and made available in sizes 0 to 16 for purchase on eBay on 10 May 2011. Emails were sent today to those who registered interest in the designs, to pre-order their dresses. Each piece will cost between $125 and $295. As with most designer collaborations, these price points are significantly cheaper than Lam’s primary line, which generally starts at $1,000.

The five winning designs from Lam's eBay collection.

What makes this project unique, is not only has Lam collaborated with a non-traditional retailer, but consumers have been actively involved in the process. In this case, the people that will be buying the products, have determined what will be available to the market.

Lam isn’t the only designer to take this approach. Levi’s is using its 2.7 million Facebook fans to choose their social media brand ambassador via Facebook. In a video recruitment contest called “Become the Next Levi’s Girl”, Facebook users can vote on youtube clips made by hopefully contenders. This isn’t the first time Levi’s have done this. They used the method successfully to find a Levi’s boy in early 2010. With the success of this campaign the Next Levi’s Girl campaign was rolled out late last year.

It seems amazing that this principle hasn’t been applied more frequently in the fashion industry. Who better to consult on designs than the people who will be shelling out their hard earned money to buy them. However, what does this mean for fashion editors and buyers? If this process takes off, could the middlemen be eliminated? Unlikey. Fashion editors and buyers have a level of expertise and access to consumer data, which means they still have a valuable role to play when determining what designs hit the shelves. Fashion editors in particular have the ability to determine trends through coverage in their magazines which is a necessary part of advertising for designers.

Designs from Lam's main line

In an interesting twist, Lam as announced that he will be launching his own diffusion line, separate from his collection for eBay. This is not new in the fashion industry, even Australian brands such as Nicola Finetti have created diffusion lines at a cheaper price point (e.g. Nicola Finetti introduced Nylon Flocks at a lower price point to his main line). What makes this noteworthy is Lam's recent collaboration with eBay.  It turns out this was a smart business move. Not only has he advertised his brand to a wider audience who would potentially be interested in his lower priced range, but with eBay users having to give their email address to participate in the voting process, he has a database of consumers he can easily target when his diffusion line comes out.

With many designers using social marketing to promote their brand, this may not only change the face of advertising, but change the way companies do business.

Learn more about the developments in online retailing by reading Life's a Beach and I'm Feeling Lucky.

Information from www.mashable.com, http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2011/03/derek_lams_diffusion_collectio.html and http://dereklam.ebay.com/