To Pop-Up Shop, or not? (During Pandemic)

[NVP]

Hi All,

After a bit of advice please.


I've been working on my own business this year, and I had plans to launch my products in a Pop-Up Shop location on Link Street in Birmingham - for those unaware this is an internal walk-way of shops between Birmingham New Street Train Station /Grand Central Shopping Complex and the Bullring Shopping Centre.

Decent location I thought, and timing wise it'll be the end of November so good for Xmas shoppers, however... COVID!


I've not been out on foot much during this pandemic so I'm unaware of whether I would still see significant foot traffic, or if it's reduced to a level where having a store en route is pointless.


Any advice from those still out and about would be really appreciated.


Thanks

 

[NVP]

So let me get this straight, you are a shop?

Haha I'm attempting to be

Make sure you take card payments and have plenty of PPE.

Yeh I've got a payment method lined up and me and the wife planned it all out in terms of social distance and wipe-downs etc.

Probably not the best of times to open a new business, I would wait it out if you can especially if it’s a retail business.

I'm hoping it's a good product range for x-mas, they'll be available online too I'll just have to hit the advertising hard - I was hoping the pop-up shop would help. Perhaps not as much during these times.

What are your products?

I did write out a reply... but I thought I'd let you guys have some fun guessing - how about whoever guesses right can get a 10% discount on 1 item (or trade it to another forumite if they don't want it) Oh wait, is that allowed mods?

 

[NVP]

3080 graphics cards?!?!?

Tinsel-hemmed chaps?

Trump merchandise

Vaping stuff.

Festive face masks?

Nope. Nope.

 

[NVP]

I'd probably do something about this before making a more informed decision.

Yes, I was hoping to get some opinions from those who are out and about daily.

FRESH hot bacon on bread rolls

Well that's my lunch decided!

@NVP - First thing that stood out is you haven't seen what it is like around the area so definitely do a bit of 'market research'. Get a coffee and have a walk around at different times of the day so midweek mornings, lunchtimes and evenings. Plus the weekend.

Sounds weird but fully immerse yourself with where people are going/shopping. Even speak to the people working in the shops and see how business is going.

Yes, I was planning to take a few days scouting the location and one other potential, I was hoping some on here were still out frequently to also advise. And thank you I will definitely speak with other shops Appreciated

 

[NVP]

Christmas won't exist this year in any meaningful way so it might be worth you waiting to see how things pan out. Opening a retail business in the current environment seems like an unnecessary risk considering the government doesn't know it's arse from it's elbow and are making some of the worst kind of decisions both for businesses and health outcomes.

It depends on the costs involved. If they are low and you are happy to risk a lockdown preventing you opening then give it a go. But be careful when signing the contract for the pitch and make sure you know what you're still liable for even if everyone is locked up inside with all our liberties forcably taken away by an overreacting government.

The Trump merchandise is a good call though

Thanks guys. Exactly the reason for this thread, cost wise it is significant and has that extra chance to flop with all the goings on of 2020.

My back-up location is less than one third the cost of the Link Street so can be made back from a much smaller amount of sales - probably the safer option, however it has significantly less footfall generally, and that was a key thing.

The main purpose was to generate awareness of the brand and also provide a place to make person to person sales. Value to cost appears an issue with the current uncertainty



So perhaps a different method to launch? Exclusively as a concession within a store? I'd have to look at costings. Or even simply pitch to them directly for wholesale?



Radical times require radical thinking I think, I open the floor...

 

[NVP]

It's hard to give advice without knowing what you intend to do.

...

If you're relying on high volume, low margin sales then the advice would be different.

The intention was to raise brand awareness and provide a location where I can make sales in person. Sales wise the margins increase from enticing-purchase to money-maker as you go up the product range, and the higher range is what I wished to push in the pop-up to show the product quality and have that related to my brand.

A pop-up shop is so limited, especially currently. Why not push the online avenue?

Online will be active, and I may have to put more into the online marketing instead - however a key request from customers of my product is having a physical location to preview before purchase, and a few pop-ups here and there is a good way to test the formula before acquiring a permanent location.

If you've decided against the more expensive, but better, location then simply offer them the same as the cheaper backup location. You have nothing to lose. I would imagine everyone is thinking the same as here and that pitch will be hard to sell in today's COVID climate. The worst that can happen is they say no. Fortune favours the brave.

Thank you, I'm not sure why I haven't already. Let the negotiations begin

 

[NVP]

Depends what the item(s) are. If it's a high end item I think a pop up shop will work better if it is actually a proper shop rather than a stall but ultimately pop up doesn't give the reassurance that you can stand behind the product in a way that it's likely to be around for long. It raises doubts to me unless you're throwing enough money at the store to look high end and you can dismantle it and reuse such equipment / POS again.

One other thing... Christmas pop up shops have the disadvantage that you can't return an item if it breaks after Christmas. This can deter people. So you could also try to mitigate that by a simple website with a returns process listed on it (even if that's just to email you). Hand out a card with the website address for any items you sell. A website might persuade people to trust the pop up shop more.

The items come with a warranty included with all the documentation, and yes everything will be accessible via the brand website too It's really hard to explain without telling you guys haha

I also think Birmingham is the wrong location for high end. If the product is truly innovative I think it would be much better placed in London, preferably where there's a high foot fall of international visitors. There are talks of an air bridge being established between the US and London so if it's high end you need to capitalise on a good flow of high earners and not just exhaust a static volume of possible contenders in area mainly filled with locals.

High quality, not exactly innovative though. I understand to an extent, but London costs are ridiculous and it's much better to build a brand where I intend to be based (in terms of permanent location), which is here in the Midlands

I guess I meant, do you need footfall on an ongoing basis, or will you attract customers to your location once you've got your name out there, or will you rely on footfall on an ongoing basis?

Once the name is out there I'm hoping the customers come to me.

Are you going to say what the product actually is?

I was going to, but then I did something which is really hindering the ability to discuss detail:

I did write out a reply... but I thought I'd let you guys have some fun guessing - how about whoever guesses right can get a 10% discount on 1 item (or trade it to another forumite if they don't want it) Oh wait, is that allowed mods?

Shall I just say and kill the comp thing?

 

[NVP]

Hi Guys, sorry for the delayed reply - busy day, just got in! I'll have to digest all the previous posts and respond tomorrow.


To kill any further suspense...

I wished to have the pop-up shop to launch my brand of electric scooters, and also advertise the brands sale as "exclusively sold by" my online escooter shop - which sells lots of models in addition to my own brand, they're separate businesses - to raise awareness of both the scooter brand and the online store, as well as selling the scooters.


Location wise Link Street was perfect being between the train station and the shopping centre as public transport commuters are a big target.

However yes, Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, John Lewis or even potentially HoF with their "new direction" are also potential avenues to approach as an exclusive brand for them. Otherwise small-stall pop-ups in rich areas as has been suggested is a good plan too.


It's going to be a tough begining either way. Wish me luck x

 

[NVP]

Again, sorry for the late replies - there has been a lot to catch up on and reply to. Thanks for the advice, it has all been appreciated

The cancellation of the brum Christmas market means it'll be absolutely dead in comparison to any previous year.

Depends on the product but Birmingham is unlikely to come out of tier 2 restrictions any time soon and will more likely end up in tier 3. If we don't go in to a national lockdown again those tier 3 restrictions will get tighter, so your footfall won't be great.
...
If the costs mean you need to sell a lot to break even then you may be better of putting the money in to online marketing as online retail is going to be much bigger than normal this Christmas, then try again sometime next year.

I know this walk way well where you mean. If I recall there is one of those Japanese bubble shops that has been there ages and another shop that sells the Edison type light bulbs. If I'm completely honest they all seem really quiet whenever I've walked past and imagine the footfall is smaller this year with less people going into town, also the big John Lewis in Grand Central is closing as well. I might be completely wrong though and maybe they do get busy just my observation that they all seem really quiet.

Thank you. Yes, I think the idea is pretty much on hold for this year now.

If it’s high end you might want to target short duration pop ups in towns with wealthy inhabitants. Go to Tunbridge Wells for a weekend, go to York or Cheltenham. Go where the money is rather than hope it walks through Brum.

Thank you, this is a decent suggestion although I think might also have to wait until there's more certainty to the situation.

If it's a decent product I think you'd be better off spending your time getting the product into JL or Selfridges etc. The association of a high end retailer will help establish your brand as such more than a one off shop. You could sweeten the deal with such retailer by producing some instore stand to promote the item on certain days where you'd supply yourself or others to perform demonstrations.

Yes, this is an advantageous route and one I will take, although it requires a lot of work so will be parallel to other campaigns.

If you can sell online your money is better used or targeted adverts on FB , instagram and Twitter.

Yeh I think for the Product Range I will need to push a lot of money into this, the Online Shop has a bit currently but is generating it's own traffic simply from google. It hasn't been up long so I will be hitting online and physical adverts for that to aid exposure.

Good luck.

I've seen several people using them around here (expensive suburban part of Surrey if that helps to understand the demographic). I think winter might be a big factor as it's cold now. But definitely worth a try. Good luck again.

Thanks man Yes, they're popping up everywhere from the local chavs to the suited and booted commuter, and the prices and quality of products out there match. Fingers crossed I can sneak in!

Good luck dude, you got this

Have you got all the necessary certifications and insurances in place? I'm assuming these are rebranded Chinese models? Would be crap if one of them caught fire whilst charging and burnt someone's house down, these are all things you need to be prepared for and careful of.

Drop me a trust with your site, I'm rather intrigued

Thanks bro Yeh all certs and insurance are done and dusted, I want to make money not get ****** over haha. I'm eager to show the site but it's not been up long and I feel hesitant of potential slaughter from the internet's finest forum in its current form. Once I'm happy with all my tweaking I'll share it

Hmm good luck.

Not as exciting/homoerotic as I'd imagined.

Cheers And I don't think anything is as homoerotic as you imagine!

As I suspected, It’s illegal to use them on public roads, on pavements, in cycle lanes and in pedestrian-only areas if you own it.

lol makes no difference, people have been buying them for years and that appears to be growing exponentially at the moment - I think legalisation is inevitable.

The issue here is people trying to capitalise on something before there's any infrastructure to cope with it. I suspect if a glut of these hit the streets legally under the hire scheme, the scheme would close in a few months whilst lessons learned from the scheme transpire into new regulations. Therefore if you buy one and chance it, you'd be chancing the fact that you could be caught and fined or receive points on licence and / or that the scheme ends and a decision to make them legal doesn't transpire, leaving you with a toy you can only legally use on private land. As a retailer you absolutely must point out the legal position to anyone buying one as is the case with existing retailers such as Halfords. You might be able to tailor your offering to the hire model by charging an upfront deposit equivalent to the scooter but if / when the hiring trial ends you could end up with many people wanting their deposits back and you holding a lot of used stock that is especially hard to sell, effectively as second hand toys.

These things are already taking over major cities around the world and getting legislation and standards. You'll be seeing them soon with license plates on

In terms of entering the hire market? That's pretty much guaranteed to be a money pit, and I like my money pits to have a BMW badge on the bonnet.

you absolutely want to spend the money on a small video and hitting the main social media platforms - just like the drop shippers do.

Targeting impulsive 20 somethings will sure beat trying to convince commuters to change a habit of a lifetime IMO.

Got one in development already for the Website and will be doing one for the product range once the latest batch is finished I thought editing videos would be a fun thing to do... turns out I'm better with pictures haha!


Disclaimer: I normally proof read my posts, but I'm giving it a miss on this occasion in preference of sleep x

 

[NVP]

Not too good, exactly 4 months after this post my life got turned upside down by my wife leaving, taking my kids and refusing me access.

I rented a nice location on a major road in Birmingham, had the shop all kitted out selling my branded scooters only, whilst also selling them on my new own website and then my original website which sold other brands too (just dropped shipped from EU warehouses).

But with all the stress of fighting for my kids, and the ever-increasing payments to the solicitors/barristers, I couldn't afford to keep paying the shop rent. Closing that really impacted my motivation and I eventually closed both websites once my stock was sold.

However, now life is a bit more stable in terms of custody of my kids etc., I just had to wait for the financial side of my divorce to resolve (still ongoing!) and then I'm planning to get back on it. I'm surprised they've not been legalised yet, but that still gives me a chance to be competitive.

Fingers crossed anyway