Reports suggest that almost a quarter of the high streets in the UK are failing* and for both established and new retailers, there are both opportunities to acquire prime location premises at knock down prices, but equal risks that any new openings will not deliver the required returns to remain a permanent part of the brand’s portfolio.
Retail expert Scott Storey, MD of CTS Retail, has been closely watching the phenomenon that is the ‘pop-up shop’ and is convinced that it could give retailers the perfect opportunity to trial out new store locations, products, even in-store designs, without investing large sums upfront.
“Pop-up shops are different, exciting and can be an extremely great way of trialling market demand before committing to full-blown store rollout. The volatile nature of the High Street means that there are many opportunities to gain further presence which may seem too good to miss out on, but the reality is that the previous retailer who occupied that position failed for a reason, and it may not be purely due to the brand itself, or poor management of the business. There may be external factors that will influence success that a new retailer simply would not be aware of.”
Pop-up shops are becoming a frequent fixture inside shopping centres, at festivals and in open-space retail parades, and so Scott also points out that pretty much any retailer could utilise pop-up shops to gain valuable additional revenue by taking themselves to their customers, rather than relying on their customers coming to them. But Scott is also quick to heed a warning to retailers thinking about adding pop-up shops to their marketing effort.
“What retailers must remember is that consumers will expect the same standard of shopping experience from a pop-up shop as they would in a normal outlet. Credit card terminals are everywhere but the savvy retailer will think about provisions which enable them to go further, such as being able to check stock and order immediately via their EPOS system for home delivery if they don’t have the product in stock for example, to log sales, to manage inventory to know exactly what has been sold rather than the traditional inefficient methods of counting up at the end of the day.”
“At CTS Retail, we work with a number of retail solutions and believe that Cervello is the best solution on the market for the pop-up shop as it has no upfront license costs so it doesn’t matter how many terminals, laptops or mobile devices you enable. You literally only pay each time a transaction is made, so the risk in terms of fixed upfront costs associated with a new location trial are minimal” says Scott.
*- http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/quarter-of-high-streets-failing-2298876.html
**- http://www.retailgazette.co.uk/articles/13203-retail-braces-itself-for-rent-day-insolvencies
Retail expert Scott Storey, MD of CTS Retail, has been closely watching the phenomenon that is the ‘pop-up shop’ and is convinced that it could give retailers the perfect opportunity to trial out new store locations, products, even in-store designs, without investing large sums upfront.
“Pop-up shops are different, exciting and can be an extremely great way of trialling market demand before committing to full-blown store rollout. The volatile nature of the High Street means that there are many opportunities to gain further presence which may seem too good to miss out on, but the reality is that the previous retailer who occupied that position failed for a reason, and it may not be purely due to the brand itself, or poor management of the business. There may be external factors that will influence success that a new retailer simply would not be aware of.”
Pop-up shops are becoming a frequent fixture inside shopping centres, at festivals and in open-space retail parades, and so Scott also points out that pretty much any retailer could utilise pop-up shops to gain valuable additional revenue by taking themselves to their customers, rather than relying on their customers coming to them. But Scott is also quick to heed a warning to retailers thinking about adding pop-up shops to their marketing effort.
“What retailers must remember is that consumers will expect the same standard of shopping experience from a pop-up shop as they would in a normal outlet. Credit card terminals are everywhere but the savvy retailer will think about provisions which enable them to go further, such as being able to check stock and order immediately via their EPOS system for home delivery if they don’t have the product in stock for example, to log sales, to manage inventory to know exactly what has been sold rather than the traditional inefficient methods of counting up at the end of the day.”
“At CTS Retail, we work with a number of retail solutions and believe that Cervello is the best solution on the market for the pop-up shop as it has no upfront license costs so it doesn’t matter how many terminals, laptops or mobile devices you enable. You literally only pay each time a transaction is made, so the risk in terms of fixed upfront costs associated with a new location trial are minimal” says Scott.
*- http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/quarter-of-high-streets-failing-2298876.html
**- http://www.retailgazette.co.uk/articles/13203-retail-braces-itself-for-rent-day-insolvencies