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

[thenewoc]

They arent legal yet but people still buy them, don't know if the retailer needs to make them aware or not though.

If you are making your own then I'd use your technical knowledge and being UK based as your main selling points. If you don't mind being on camera then some vids showing off your expertise on youtube / instagram etc might get you some attention.

Being UK based is good as well as so many of these things come from dodgy chinese sellers, if I were buying one I'd want one that I could trust.

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.

 

[montymint]

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

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.

 

[thenewoc]

What is the USP of these, that they're being manufactured in the UK, does that include the batteries and charging circuitry?

 

[Diddums]

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.

That ship sailed over a year ago, London is crawling with the things and the coppers don't seem to mind at all. I see them zipping in ant out of traffic on a daily basis, sometimes amongst police vehicles, and they don't even bat an eye. The rental ones are a massive PITA as evidenced in California where they trialled them and the streets ended up being littered with the things just left willy nilly all over the place (they may have solved this by now, I don't know).

 

[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

 

[Diddums]

@NVP how's this coming along?

 

[dlockers]

Damn I am way late to this. I've worked a few gigs in the link, it sucks. Palisades was even worse till JL came. Probably back to being a dive post JL.

 

[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

 

[RxR]

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

Going through all that was challenging when you were trying to get ahead in business.