Pop-up retail

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Pop-up retail

‘The characteristics

of a valuable pop-up

store location’

H.M.G. Koelen

s1910523

University of Groningen

Abstract

In order to reach consumers on an emotional level, while avoiding the use of traditional media due to its decreasing effectiveness, a relatively new non-traditional marketing method called the „pop-up store‟ arose. Pop-up stores are temporary promotional settings designed to offer a highly experiential interaction among the customer and a product, service or brand. They do not sell any products and therefore primarily function as an unique marketing environment in order to engage consumers in their own unique way. Pop-up stores are event driven and depend on novel marketing techniques instead of mass media campaigns. As a result they reduce the ability of the customers to identify the promotion as an advertisement and prevent reduced attention, the recall of more counterarguments, reduced perceived credibility and a less favorable attitude. Furthermore, using a pop-up store reduces the chance of information asymmetries and increases the ability of consumers to identify if the marketed product is better than the product it replaces, the compatibility regarding their needs, the complexity of use and increases the ease of experiencing or seeing the new product or service and the degree to which this is visible to family, friends and neighbors. The aim of this research is to identify the most important characteristics regarding the selection of a pop-up store location. By qualitative research important pop-up store location characteristics such as the surprise and visibility, demographics, neighborhood, image of the building, vacancy, size, and accessibility were indicated. The literature study was succeeded by a quantitative analysis on a macro-, meso- and micro-level that was based on more than one hundred pop-up store locations in forty one European cities. By mapping and analyzing the pop-up store locations a relation is found between the number of stores in a city and the number of tourist overnight stays, the unemployment rate, the number of museums and the criminality represented as car thefts. The meso analysis results indicate that locations near or in the city center are slightly preferred above locations outside the city center to locate a pop-up store. However, given the minimal difference it can be concluded that a prime location in the city center is not an absolute requirement for a pop-up store to be successful. The third and final analysis, the micro-level, shows a relation between the distance of the store to the city center and the number of pop-up stores, the city‟s population, criminality in the form of car thefts and the distance to the nearest public transportation stop and sightseeing activity.

Key words: pop-up store, experiential marketing, location research, site characteristics, Europe.

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1. Introduction

Today a pervasive change in the behavior of consumers is seen. People do not simply concern about buying goods and services anymore, they expect engaging experiences from the suppliers‟ side as well (Niehm, Fiore, Jeong, & Kim, 2007). An increasing number of consumers prefer a product that expresses their personal identity and increases their uniqueness. They demand personalization and participation in their retail experience which engages communication, entertainment, and marketing efforts that stimulate their senses and induces emotion (Niehm et al., 2007). The actual experience occurs, and the demand is met, when consumers can interact, examine, and evaluate products when they are searching for them. When a product or brand is presented virtually -for example by an advertisement- the consumer will experience it indirectly. However, when physical contact with the product occurs, a direct experience on an emotional level takes place (Brakus, Schmitt, & Zarantonello, 2009). If companies respond to today‟s customers increasing need concerning experiences and emotional interaction, this approach will strengthen their brand image, the brand recall and will increase the likelihood that the brand ends on top of mind regarding the choice of the consumers.

Subsequent to the significant change in customer demand, companies would do well to redirect their aim and start offering experiences due to a succeeding development. In the past years a significant decrease in traditional marketing effectiveness is seen (Niehm et al., 2007; Trusov, Bucklin, & Pauwels, 2009). This means that former types of brand and product marketing are not solely sufficient anymore to reach customers. In order to respond to the increasing consumer demand regarding emotional interaction and the decreasing traditional marketing effectiveness, a solution to effectively market products and brands is needed. However, despite the developments they need to respond to, companies were interested in effective ways to launch and market their products for ages already (Rogers, 1976). This interest arose because the major part of today‟s firm activities consist of introducing new products to the market (Delre, Jager, Bijmolt, & Janssen, 2007). Nevertheless, it is likely that due to the current developments their interest on the subject of effective ways to market a product or brand have only increased. In combination with the earlier mentioned developments regarding customer demand, a new kind of approach is required because traditional methods turn out not being sufficient anymore.

In order to respond to the rapidly changing environment, marketers started looking for fresh and new ways to promote their brand and products. They increasingly started focusing on long-term engagements as this can result in emotional attachment by consumers (Delre et al., 2007). A relatively new, non-traditional, marketing method called the „pop-up store‟ is one of the answers to today‟s shift in emotional demand. Pop-up stores, also known as instant stores, guerilla shops, flash shops, pilot shops or pop-up retail, are temporary promotional settings designed to offer a highly experiential interaction among customers and a (new) product, service or brand to engage consumers in their own unique way (Niehm et al., 2007). Pop-up stores do not sell products and therefore primarily function as unique marketing environments offering a special interactive service towards customers who seek diverse, engaging and innovative experiences (Kim, Fiore, Niehm, & Miyoung, 2010). This makes the concept an ideal opportunity for companies to launch and test new products, recall consumers to the existence of an once well-known brand, or to create a valuable buzz (Collins, 2004; Gregory, 2009). Eventually the main purpose of the pop-up store is to offer a personal interaction among customers and a brand in order to let them get familiar with them and their products.

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about the subject at present day. Aspects of pop-up stores that have been researched so far are the consumers‟ view on pop-up retail and these individual‟s demographic characteristics (Kim et al., 2010; Niehm et al., 2007). The results revealed that the opinion of most customers turned out very positive concerning the acceptability of the pop-up store concept.

So far the most obvious differences concerning normal retail and pop-up retail are that pop-up stores offer a highly experiential environment, are temporary of nature and they do not sell any products. It is reasonable to assume these differences will also affect additional store characteristics which could result in even more uniqueness‟s. As it is investigated in earlier pop-up store research, the acceptance of the new format and various consumer characteristics are known. However, another question that can be asked is about the influence of the previously mentioned uniqueness on the store‟s site and its environmental characteristics. What are important characteristics in order to select a potential pop-up store location, or in other words, what is the best place to locate a pop-up store? Due to the limited amount of research on the topic of pop-up retail, there is not much written about this so far. In line with previous research on the topic of pop-up stores and their target groups, this study will specifically elaborate on the specific characteristics of the pop-up store location. The focus of the study is on providing a comprehensive indication of important pop-up store characteristics in order to provide companies and brands the opportunity to select the most valuable pop-up store locations in the future.

1.2 Problem statement

It is substantiated by professionals that by making a short-term investment, the “novel, interactive, surprising, and fleeting aspect of pop-up retail” will offer consumers their currently desired experience and retailers an excellent return by generating a valuable buzz (Niehm et al., 2007, p.5). On the other hand, to generate the buzz that is sought for, retailers depend on consumers, individuals visiting the pop-up store and media attention. An easy approach to generate many visitors, could be by locating the store in an attractive and popular zone of a large city. Large cities have more residents and therefore a larger number of potential consumers. By combining this with a popular area, the number of potential visitors could increase considerably. However, since the existence of abundant studies on the topic of „locational research‟ it is very likely that this will not be the optimal strategy. Therefore, in line with earlier research, it is reasonable to assume that there are several additional characteristics that are of importance when picking a potential pop-up store site. This assumption brings us to the question what these important location requirements and characteristics could be. As previously mentioned in the introduction, given the novelty of the pop-up store format as a marketing tool there is no exact description or model providing the ideal location and its characteristics at present. Therefore the aim of this research will be to identify the most important characteristics regarding the selection of the ideal pop-up store location and in this way the most attractive location to attract as many visitors as possible.

Given the apparent differences between normal retail and pop-up retail, it is reasonable to assume that a company or brand willing to implement a pop-up store will apply different requirements and will search for different characteristics in order to select a valuable location that any other „normal retailer‟ does not apply. Therefore, the question to be answered in this research is:

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2. Research approach

In order to answer the previously stated research question, the research approach is divided into two successive parts, namely; a qualitative and a quantitative part. The first part of the research consists of a literature review and an extensive qualitative study based on former experiential marketing, retail location and pop-up store research. The qualitative study will also enclose a section about the advantages in favor of a company or brand willing to utilize a pop-up store. The first part is concluded by presenting a model that will be the basis of the second part of the study. The model will clearly present the most important location characteristics in order to select a potential pop-up store site. The selected characteristics are derived from literature research based on region (macro-level), area (meso-level) and site influences (micro-(meso-level).

In the second part of the research the literature study will be taken further into an elaborate quantitative study. The quantitative analysis is divided into three successive phases and indentifies important pop-up store location characteristics by examining multiple pop-up store locations in forty one European cities. Since this research is not conducted on behalf of a principal case company, the field of research consists of a selection of the largest countries of Europe. In this way the generalizability of the study increases and makes the research useful for many companies both nationally and internationally oriented.

3. Literature review

Due to today‟s change in customer demand and the decrease of traditional marketing effectiveness, a growing number of well- and less well-known brands begin to use pop-up stores. The change from the traditional, currently less effective, marketing approach to the non-traditional approach will be elaborated on in the upcoming literature review. Furthermore, the most important differences between a normal store and the pop-up store are highlighted, as well as the benefits that can be gained from implementing a pop-up store. The concluding paragraph of the literature review, regarding the store‟s benefits, is conducted on behalf of the consumer‟s side of view as well as the company side.

3.1 Non-traditional marketing: ‘flying below the radar’

Traditional forms of marketing appear to lose range and value and as a result these methods are becoming less effective (Kim et al., 2010; Niehm et al., 2007; Trusov et al., 2009). By quoting Trusov et al. (2009) it can even be said that “40% fewer people agree that advertisements are a good way to learn about new products, 59% fewer people report that they buy products because of their advertisements, and 49% fewer people find that advertisements are entertaining” (p.90). Advertising, as used in this context is “an exchange between the advertiser and the consumer, where consumers give their time and cognitive effort and expect to receive something of value in return” (Dahlén, Granlund, & Grenros, 2009, p.156). Because pop-up stores mainly function in order to let people get familiar with a brand and their products, the first percentage concerning the „40% fewer people agree that advertisements are a good way to learn about new products„ mentioned by Trusov et al. (2009) will be of great importance concerning this study.

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decrease are mentioned by Kaikati and Kaikati (2004). These are; (1) the growing criticism on the advertising industry in general, (2) the difficulty for marketers to track down the potential customers because they become more and more fragmented and (3) the technical treats such as add-skipping abilities of personal television recorders. Together with others, these aspects made companies increasingly making use of experiential, non-traditional sorts of „guerilla‟ marketing at present. Typical features of these guerilla marketing approaches are the unconventional way of performing marketing actions, making use of non-traditional media, and most common on a very low budget (Dahlén et al., 2009). Therefore non-traditional marketing has gained a lot of industry attention and receives increasing shares of today‟s company budgets (Dahlén et al., 2009).

Despite the multiple ways to express the current decreasing effectiveness of traditional marketing, it is clear that it is losing impact and that non-traditional marketing has gained a lot of industry attention. However, we can ask ourselves what led to this occurrence and what lies in the origin of this development? One of the reasons individuals are coping and reacting different to traditional forms of advertising is explained by Dahlén and Edenius (2007). In their opinion today‟s modern consumers have developed a system that directs their attention and routinizes their responses to advertising once the message is identified as an advertisement. They argue that once a message is identified as an advertisement people reduce attention, recall more counterarguments, reduce perceived credibility and have less favorable attitudes. By using a non-traditional medium, the consumer‟s ability to identify the message as an advertisement may be reduced. In this way consumers will rely on their perceptions of the medium as they evaluate the message and not on their developed system (Dahlén, & Edenius, 2007). This method to circumvent the individuals‟ approach to use their identification system is labeled „stealth marketing‟ (Kaikati, & Kaikati, 2004). Stealth marketing is the attempt of a company to get their brand noticed in a crowded marketplace by flying below the radar of the consumers and thereby avoiding the system that directs their attention. In this way the brand will cut through the abundance of traditional advertisements and finds the weak spot in the customers‟ „defensive shields‟. The eventual attempt of this approach is to present a new product or brand by cleverly creating a buzz and creating a positive word-of-mouth (WOM) effect. Creating a buzz is earlier indicated as one of the core attempts of implementing a pop-up store so perfectly fits the idea behind stealth marketing (Kim et al., 2010; “Pop-Up Stores,” 2009).

Nevertheless, if the value perceived by customers remains unsatisfactory, despite not being noticed as an advertisement, it still tends to result in a negative response by consumers and possibly will damage the brands‟ reputation (Dahlén et al., 2009). A brand‟s reputation are “the expectations consumers have on a brand and the standard they measure its actions by, based on their previous experiences of the brand and its visibility in the marketplace” (p.156). So being noticed in an innovative way is not the only thing to worry about for a company or brand nowadays. The actual value perceived by the customer is at least of equal importance, as was also mentioned in the definition of advertising provided by Dahlén et al. (2009).

3.2 The experience economy

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So the consumers‟ preference concerning engagement induced some remarkable changes already. For some years ago Gilmore and Pine (2002) investigated the backgrounds of innovative experiences and predicted that it would become an increasingly important component of any successful company core capability. They argued that those companies that seek for excellent services and experiences would take the lead in creating new value in the modern „experience economy‟ (Gilmore, & Pine, 2002). In Nijs‟ (2003) work about „imagineering‟, the upcoming and currently demanded experience economy is referred by as today‟s „dream society‟.

The conception regarding the upcoming experience economy was already shared by Pine and Gilmore (1998) for quite some years ago. They argued at that time more and more businesses were already responding to the consumers‟ unquestionable desire concerning experiences. By explicitly designing and promoting their products and brands, they transformed from only selling products and services to selling experiences. Just like today‟s customers appear to prefer. The transformation worked out because prior offerings (products and services) were external to the buyer, whilst the offered experiences were naturally personal and existed only in the mind of the individual who had been engaged on an emotional, physical, and intellectual level (Pine, & Gilmore, 1998). This shift from products to experiences is noted by multiple authors today and it is argued that retailers and marketing firms are allocating more and more resources towards experiential strategies nowadays. Thereby they allow visitors to interact with their brand and products face-to-face which alters the potential customer‟s brand essence “into a set of tangible, physical, interactive experiences” (Kim et al., 2010, p. 134). The potential value of letting customers interact with the offered product, and thereby creating an experience, was indicated by Rogers (1995) in 1962 already. He stated the adoption of a product or innovation is influenced by five factors. The first factor mentioned by Rogers, the „perceived characteristics of the innovation‟, is very similar to the current image of an experience and holds five characteristics that could be seen as the start of the process. The first characteristic „relative advantage‟ refers to the degree to which a product is perceived by the consumer as being better than the product it replaces. The second characteristic is „compatibility‟ and refers to the degree to which an innovation is perceived as consistent with the existing values, past experiences, and the needs of the customer. The third characteristic „complexity‟ refers to the degree to which the product is perceived as being difficult to understand and use. The next characteristic is called ‟triability‟ and refers to the ease of experiencing or seeing the new product or service. Could it easily be tested, with low risk, in an inexpensive way and needing no special equipment. The fifth and final characteristic is „observability‟ and relates to the degree to which the results from using a new product are visible to family, friends, and neighbors. After this brief description of the characteristics, the fourth characteristic „triability‟ seems to be perfectly satisfied by the implementation of a pop-up store. Furthermore, if the brand representatives are well informed and enthusiastic about the product they promote, the relative advantage, the compatibility and complexity could also be satisfied conform the consumer‟s needs. The fifth characteristic, the observability, is also fulfilled by a pop-up store every now and then. In a few cases brands will use pop-up stores to provide visitors with product samples. So it can be said that the pop-up store concept perfectly fits today‟s shift of selling experiences instead of products and thereby the first factor of the product adoption model of Rogers, which could substantiate the actual utility of the concept.

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agreed they would be more open to future advertising regarding the product (Gordon, 2004). This substantiates Dahlén and Edenius‟ (2007) opinion that by using a non-traditional medium, the consumer‟s ability to identify the message as an advertisement may be reduced and that they will rely on their perceptions as they evaluate the message and not on their developed system.

By implementing more and more experiential marketing strategies, companies are responding to the growing demand regarding „hart share‟ and the so called experience economy. As stated by Gilmore and Pine (2002), present experiential marketing is meshing with traditional marketing through gaining competitive advantage by offering entertainment instead of products. So far much is written about the non-traditional marketing format and the potential value of the pop-up store. In the upcoming paragraph the pop-up store characteristics will be elaborated on.

3.3 The pop-up store

To engage customers, companies anticipated by implementing a new experiential marketing format which is called the pop-up store. A pop-up store is event-driven and depends on novel marketing techniques instead of mass media campaigns (Gordon, 2004). As initiated in the introduction already, a pop-up store provides a consumer the requested engagement on an emotional, physical and intellectual level which causes a tangible, physical and interactive experience. Therefore pop-up stores can have many different identities such as holiday stores, concept stores, brand marketing, galleries, exhibitions, café/restaurant promotions and even events. The main purpose of the promotional setting is to offer visitors a personal, unique and exclusive interaction in order to get familiar with a brand in an experiential manner.

Usually pop-up stores are open in only one location and the approximate period a store lasts can vary from only one day, to one year (Niehm et al. 2007). Initially springing up and disappearing, so the store‟s temporary nature, is an unique feature and is one of the things that distinguishes pop-up stores from normal boutiques or shops (Kim et al., 2009). The temporary nature of the concept holds multiple thoughts. One of these thoughts is today‟s growing haste in the lives of people (Gogoi, 2007). People have a certain excitement about things that shout „act now!‟. By offering the store only temporary, it responds to the experienced excitement and to get the consumers attention by creating a sense of urgency. So the nature of the store transpires the current trend among individuals growing haste. The temporary nature of the store also creates some sort of exclusiveness. It says „take your chance to experience it now it is still here‟(Gogoi, 2007).

Another interesting and important characteristic is that there are usually no products sold in a pop-up store (Kim et al., 2009; Niehm et al., 2007). The store is solely used as a promotional setting to create a buzz and brand awareness among consumers. Occasionally brands will also use pop-up stores to provide visitors a product sample to increase the „observability‟, however, these persons do not pay for the products. The remarkable „no products sold strategy‟ will remain important in the remaining of this research too.

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triggered by their ideas and changing needs (Van de Ven, 1986). So they do not only share their knowledge and information, they can also gather useful customer information and perspectives because consumers “contribute to the shaping of brand identity and the physical product through shared information during face-to-face interactions with brand representatives” (Kim et al., 2010, p.134). In line with this interpretation, pop-up retail can also be seen as some sort of „one-to-one‟ marketing method (“Pop-Up Stores,” 2009) or even better, a customer-centered approach (Eisenberg, 2011). A customer-centered approach is the stage previous to making use of lead-users, who can be described as “users who are so far ahead of the industry that they see no choice but to invent solutions to meet their needs” (p.50). These persons have the potential to provide the company many valuable ideas and thoughts. Kim et al. (2010) state that the sharing of perspectives is appealing to a growing number of consumers, since they see their position in the retail experience transforming from only being a consumer to an intermingle of consumer and producer. In the end this, and the related information, can turn out to be very valuable for the companies in order to develop even more appealing products.

Succeeding to the usefulness of launching or testing products to create brand awareness, the pop-up store can also be used to create customer loyalty, to perform consumer research or to execute a trend analysis (Lisanti, 2008). As for the usefulness regarding customer research, Koch (2005) asserts the opportunity for firms to understand the customers appeal, their willingness to pay and what makes them buy or not buy the product. This advantage of executing a pop-up store lies close to the earlier mentioned importance of using brand representatives, however, at that moment it was almost solely seen from the customers‟ perspective. A pop-up store provides visitors the opportunity to learn about new products and in return the visitors provide the marketer real time information concerning consumer attitudes and behavior at the point of purchase (“Can hot trend pop-up stores create more than just PR buzz?,” 2005). Therefore, in the relatively short time a pop-up store exists, the marketers get a clear picture of their new products‟ strengths and weaknesses and an insight into what causes a consumer to eventually buy the product.

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4. Location characteristics

The previous chapter presented a literature review on the rise of the pop-up store phenomenon. It gave some important insights on non-traditional marketing, the experience economy and the advantages of executing a pop-up store. Although much is written about the usefulness and opportunities the pop-up store concept brings along, little is written about the best place to locate a pop-up store. So the question remains why a company will choose to implement a pop-up store at a certain location. This chapter will focus specifically on the pop-up store location characteristics and will be substantiated by existing „location theory research‟ and available articles on the topic of pop-up stores.

4.1 ‘Prosper or fail’

To start or stimulate the diffusion of a product, it generally is important to reach as many potential customers as possible (Delre et al., 2007). As stated previously, this can be seen as a probable reason for a company in deciding where to locate their store. Companies aim for as many potential and suitable store visitors as possible, however, the number of potential store visitors depends on the store, its location, and its environmental characteristics. So the actual location of the store is of great importance.

Marketing a brand or product line, though letting it look like providing a service, is one of the things that distinguish pop-up stores from normal retail. Were consumers visit normal stores because of their central location, the brand and products sold, favorable prices, service quality and maybe even by habit, pop-up stores do not hold all these benefits. Furthermore, consumer visits are also determined by their willingness to visit a certain store in relation to the distance he or she has to bridge (Ghosh, & Craig, 1991). The foundation of traditional location theory is that the consumer‟s distance from a store is inversely related to his or her attraction to the store (Ashley, Ligas, & Chaudhuri, 2010). Again, on first sight, it is very unlikely that consumers will bridge many kilometers to visit a pop-up store in order to experience a product or brand. Especially because most of the time they do not even know about the existence of the store. Nevertheless, it is possible that once a buzz is created consumers become curious and willing to experience it. In that case the distance can be of importance. However, as will be argued later on, selecting the right neighborhood to execute the store can possibly solve this problem. So picking a potential retail-store location is important, nevertheless, given the aim and the apparent differences it is argued that it will be of even greater importance in case of a pop-up store.

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4.2 Current developments

Retailers are forced to invest strongly in store locations today, since convenience is an important benefit consumers seek in the current environment (Ashley et al., 2010; Pan, & Zinkhan, 2005). Nevertheless, given that the store site is fixed, the value of the service is determined by places and facilities external to the site (Pearson, 1991). This is expected to be of great importance in the case of pop-up stores too. Usually consumers visit a store because they need a certain product or service. Moreover, consumers holding limited sources of diagnostic information even tend to make use of price as quality indicator (Pan, & Zinkhan, 2005). Both reasons can accelerate retail visits and purchases, however, since there are no products sold in the pop-up store, potential customers have to pass and visit the store because of other reasons. For a pop-up store to create convenience a location that provides linkages to their direct environment is needed.

Subsequent to the market developments mentioned in the introduction of the research, there are current socio-economic and demographic changes. These changes are causing serious concerns regarding the perceived „vitality and viability‟ of city centers which make them try to develop forms of competitive advantage in order to compete with other places and cities (Riviezzo, de Misco, & Napolitano, 2009). In today‟s literature this is called „place marketing‟ and refers to the marketing of urban places (Loveridge, 1994). To protect themselves against the threats of other cities, urban cities respond by making use of town center management (Healey, & Baker, 1994). Town Center Management (TCM) is “the effective co-ordination of the private and public sectors, including local authority professionals, to create, in partnership, a successful town center”. By using TCM, significant differences in town centers aroused which could make some places increasingly attractive for pop-up retail and some cities less attractive. This certainly is something to keep in mind for companies that have to select a city to execute a pop-up store.

Some years ago, smaller retailers were having a sincere disadvantage compared to the more well known larger retailers in selecting a geographic area to execute a store. Due to a lack of financial resources and manpower to perform research they had a serious disadvantage concerning location information (Mazze, 1972). The shortcoming of manpower and money was of great importance for the smaller companies because research on different locations, and thereby the targeted groups, is of great importance for the store‟s success but this was not possible. However, due to the worldwide economic setback of the past years this rapidly changed. For example in the Netherlands, less than one year ago there were approximately 10.000 retail locations waiting for a potential tenant in this country (“Pop-up stores komen op,“ 2010). To prevent this vacancy from increasing, the city council of Amsterdam considered a temporary change in the city‟s zoning and a cooperation with housing associations in order to stimulate the use of pop-up stores. In exchange for significant rent reductions, or even using a building for free, they wanted to prevent the vacancy from increasing and to make the city more attractive for common retail (“PvdA ziet brood in pop-up stores,” 2011). Due to a current increase in vacant store sites worldwide, rents decreased significantly and the financial resources do not have to be the greatest problem anymore. This will be in favor of companies which consider to implement a pop-up store the upcoming time, especially if these companies are relatively small and still starting up their business.

4.3 Site selection: Macro, Meso and Micro level

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location. As was shortly mentioned, the first phase is about the selection of the zone, region or city where the new store will be installed. Secondly the trade area within that region is selected. When these two steps are completed the final decision concerning the site within the area is made. The third phase is very important because it is linked directly to the service quality and the satisfaction experienced by the consumers. Interaction between the different phases is possible, especially between the second, the area, and the third phase, the store location (Achabal et al., 1982; Mendes, & Themido, 2004).

From the consumer‟s point of view there are three groups of important factors as well, however, these determine their visiting behavior (Pan, & Zinkhan, 2006). These are; (1) product-relevant factors such as quality, price and assortment, (2) market-relevant factors such as general convenience, service quality, friendliness of salespeople, store image, atmosphere, and (3) personal factors as demographic variables and store attitude. Despite that these points are not all of equal importance concerning a pop-up store location, there are some significant similarities and differences between the points of interest in picking a store location, and the factors that determine the visiting behavior of consumers. Given the differences between a normal store and a pop-up store, it is likely that some factors are increasingly important for a pop-up store and not so much for a normal retail outlet. Furthermore, there also can be several characteristics that are solely of importance for a pop-up store. In the upcoming chapter the most important characteristics and differences are elaborated on. Due to the differences between normal retail and pop-up retail, some well known classic location characteristics will probably lose their importance in regard of pop-up store locations. Therefore the most important outdated characteristics will be shortly mentioned first.

4.3.1 Outdated characteristics

A general, though very important, factor for retailers in picking their store location is by linking the location to their distribution network to try to eliminate stock-outs, minimize late deliveries and reduce supply costs (Pearson, 1991; Shang et al., 2009). Due to the „no products sold strategy‟ of the pop-up store concept, distribution is one of the factors that lost its importance almost entirely. Another important characteristic that usually is applied by retailers to determine the store‟s location are sales forecasts based on the location of choice (Mendes, & Themido, 2004). Due to the same reason mentioned above regarding the „no products sold strategy‟, this does not seem to count for pop-up stores either.

The consumer‟s decision between different shops offering the same products is most frequently based on multiple reasons such as price, convenience, assortment, and service (Pan, & Zinkhan, 2006). These reasons increase the importance to position the store at a suitable location which enables the retailer to compete with other stores. However, as was mentioned repeatedly, most of these reasons do not apply to the pop-up store. As can be read in the research later on, the threat of competition is of less importance regarding a pop-up store. It can even be stated that pop-up stores are located near „competitors‟ on purpose! In paragraph 4.3.4 about „the neighborhood‟ it will become clear why.

4.3.2 Surprise and Visibility

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However, by looking at customers „discretionary instinct‟, change is often what gets consumers to look at things. So in the case of pop-up stores, change can be of great value because it will make customers to notice the store. Niehm et al. (2007) agree and state that pop-up stores are „associated by‟ and offer consumers the discovery or surprise factor they like.

Masimo Costa, chairman of „Assotemporary association of temporary stores‟ in Italy, argues that it is important for a pop-up store to be located on the ground floor level and clearly visible for persons passing by (“Tijdelijke winkels Milaan,” n.d.). The importance regarding the visibility applies for evenings too. Because the store can make individuals curious, which can result in a visit later on. Furthermore, some stores even remain open at night. Next to the store‟s floor level, the attractiveness of the store‟s window is of importance too. Probably most persons do not know the store and possibly are not even familiar with the concept. Therefore the window has to be attractive enough to persuade consumers to enter the store and experience it.

The importance regarding the store‟s visibility and surprise effect leads to a very interesting point of view. Because at the same time it also means that the store does not have to be located in the heart of the city center per se. If there is another location that fits the requirements, it can be valuable as well. As stated by Bahadur (n.d.) it actually is the pop-up store‟s innovative location that has to generate the buzz, because most of the time they are seen and experienced at locations consumers do not expect them to be. However, since the existence of the store has to be spread by WOM, a certain amount of customer traffic is required. The combination of the store‟s surprise effect, the temporary nature and the spread by WOM fits perfectly with the idea that things are trendy until everybody knows about it (Kan, 2006).

Christina Norzig, CEO of popupinsider.com, states that „location, location, and location‟ are the success factors of a pop-up store. In here opinion the right neighborhood and storefront are of critical importance, however, demographics, other retailers presented in the area, visibility, and foot and vehicle traffic are also of great importance (Norzig, 2010). So a less prominent location or place outside the city center such as a small alley, an empty office building, the airport, a hotel or any building generating the consumer‟s attention could be a possible pop-up store location. As long as it fits the brand and the factors mentioned above, the location could be a successful pop-up store.

4.3.3 Image

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The match between the marketed brand and its direct environment certainly is something to keep in mind for the company implementing a pop-up store. Because the image or brand reputation, described as “a consumer‟s global impression of a retail store” (Zimmer, & Golden, 1988, p.265) is a „backward looking asset with forward looking benefits‟ (Dahlén et al., 2009). It means that consumers ascribe goodwill to a certain brand or product based on previous encounters. The reason it is increasingly important for a pop-up store, is because one of its main purposes is to create a WOM effect. It is generally known that WOM is a very important and effective communication channel, however, negative feedback spreads faster than a positive experience (Keller, 2007). To make up one negative story, a lot of positive experiences and stories are needed.

In the end the building in which the store is located, mentioned by Hartman and Spiro (2005) as outside attractiveness, makes up an important part of the pop-up store‟s image as it is the customers first impression of the brand and product marketed (“Pop-up Stores,” 2009).

4.3.4 The neighborhood

“Shoppers increasingly expect retailers to be where they are and not the other way around” (Baker, 2009). In order to meet customer expectations, companies still aim for first-class conventional sites. However, Baker (2009) argues that if a retailer is willing to grow, this currently is not enough anymore. In an attempt to get in the picture of consumers, companies and brands are marketing themselves in unconventional locations more and more. But once a company has chosen its location in a certain city area, the location is fixed. So the actual choice of the location is not just a lucky guess that can be made. Even though a pop-up store just lasts for a limited period of time, the location and the area are still of mayor importance. As mentioned in the paragraph regarding the store‟s visibility and image, its environment is of mayor importance too. Especially the stores that are established around it. When selecting a location for a normal boutique or store, companies primarily investigate the presence of potential competition and logically try to avoid them. In the case of a pop-up store, the brand searches for corresponding stores selling similar products on purpose, as these stores attract the same individuals they are aiming for. The more stores that offer the same sort of product, the more potential pop-up store visitors. So since there are no real products sold, there is no „direct competition‟ because the main aim is to increase brand awareness.

McIntyre (2011) states that some characteristics are of great importance concerning the neighborhood of the pop-up store. Vital to keep in mind is to take a location in an area the targeted consumers desire, have easy access to, are already aware of, or are willing to go to. So this can be a neighborhood containing multiple stores selling similar products, or even better, the product you are promoting. By doing so, pop-up retailers can benefit from „clusters‟ which are created to facilitate comparison shopping (Craig et al., 1984). Today there are many cases and places in which firms group together to create these kinds of cluster benefits (Mccann, & Sheppard, 2003). Locating within a cluster could also fit the importance of another factor regarding the neighborhood. It is about the presence of the nearest permanent store location of the product promoted. Since a pop-up store can be used in order to increase store traffic for the brand‟s permanent store, the distance to the nearest store selling the promoted product can also be of influence in selecting the most suitable and valuable store site (Spethmann, 2004).

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than places that offer fewer services and goods. So after all, the city size is certainly something to take in consideration by selecting a potential site (Craig et al., 1984).

By the opinion of Kim et al. (2010) “a distinctive feature of pop-up retail is the use of vacant storefronts in mixed-use neighborhoods” (p.136). These areas may be more attractive to highly innovative consumers due to the offered sensory stimulation and the unusual and unique location. This substantiates the earlier mentioned importance of the pop-up store‟s surprise effect and the need of an innovative location. In the next paragraph about demographics this insight will be explored further.

For brands having an exceptionally broad target group, the neighborhood becomes less important and the importance of the centrality of the site will increase (Kim et al., 2010). Qualities such as public transport, sightseeing attractions and infrastructure are gaining importance in this case. Most cities hold city routes that are used by many persons because they lead to certain tourist spots or important public transportation sites. A place near or on such a route can generate many visitors because persons can run into the store by accident on their way to another place. Even if it is not on the route, but clearly visible for consumers passing by, it can be a valuable place for a pop-up store. This is in line with the customers discretionary instinct mentioned by Collins (2004) in section 4.3.2.

So picking the ideal pop-up store location can be seen as some kind of trade-off. Picking a place in the heart of the city center or to choose a more unconventional location and surprise the customers. As is said by Gordon (2004), “you can have a highly successful event yet produce an unsuccessful marketing experience” (p.1). You can organize a great event but if the group reached has the wrong age or economic background, you still did not realize your goal. So in the end a successful and effective experience requires to be carefully crafted to the neighborhood.

4.3.5 Demographics

One of the few academic articles available on the topic of pop-up retail is about the relation of the consumer view and their demand (Niehm et al., 2007). It is found that customer age has a significant effect on the awareness and experience of pop-up retail. Especially in case of younger consumers. As the media viewing habits of young consumers are highly fragmented today, which was mentioned earlier by Kaikati and Kaikati (2004) as one of the main reasons of the decrease of traditional marketing effectiveness, and because they are not easily reached by traditional marketing, the finding supports the idea that there can be a growth in demand regarding pop-up retail by younger consumers. Something even more interesting is their second finding. Despite the substantial difference of awareness and experience between the youngest and oldest group of consumer, little difference was found concerning the mean of the remaining age groups. In case of interesting age levels, they state that these findings imply that pop-up stores are potentially appealing and interesting regarding a very wide range of consumer age-segments (Niehm et al., 2007).

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levels of novelty seeking and uniqueness (Kim et al., 2010). Therefore the concept may require innovative consumers who will develop a positive attitude towards pop-up retail and will spread this attitude. As stated in the previous part about the neighborhood, some places are more attractive to highly innovative consumers than other places. Kim et al. (2010) refer to these places as mix-use neighborhoods, and the consumer innovativeness as the “predisposition to search for and buy new and different products and brands rather than simply adhering to accepted consumption patterns” (p.135). Companies that interact with these persons and use innovative marketing rather than interrupting them, as done by traditional marketing, may appeal to these innovative persons who have superior levels of novelty seeking and need unique tendencies (Kim et al., 2010). These persons are also called „Transumers‟. They are “consumer driven by experiences instead of the „fixed‟, by entertainment, by discovery, by fighting boredom, who increasingly live a temporary lifestyle, freeing themselves from the hassles of permanent ownership and possessions. The fixed is replaced by an obsession with the here and now, an ever-shorter satisfaction span, and a lust to collect as many experiences and stories as possible” (“Transumers,” 2006). This description of transumers perfectly fits an important feature of the pop-up store concept. „An obsession with the here and now, an ever-shorter satisfaction span, and a lust to collect as many experiences and stories as possible‟ fits seamless with the consumer‟s growing haste, excitement about things that shout „act now!‟, the need of exclusiveness and „the chance to experience it now it is still here‟. By offering the store only temporary it responds to the need of the transumers.

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4.3.6 Vacancy and temporary contracts

Companies willing to implement a pop-up store are dependent on the number of vacant locations in a particular neighborhood. While this also applies to normal retail stores it does not differentiate pop-up retail from normal stores. However, potential pop-up store tenants are also dependant on the willingness of real estate brokers to rent their space for only a short period of time. On the other hand, given the high rate of vacancy today, landlords must get creative in favor of the potential pop-up store owners because vacant buildings do not make any profit and are an eyesore in the community (Day, 2011). As stated by Culverwell (2011), the temporary retailers are one of the more interesting and positive side effects of the current recession and a potential solution to prevent the high vacancy from increasing. Pop-up campaigns are often very well marketed and therefore can work as an advertisement in favor of the property owner. Furthermore, occupied retail locations also attract more attention from potential long-term tenants. So this can lead to a great opportunity for small start-up companies to access prime sites on favorable terms in return for their flexibility (“About pop up leasing,” 2008).

As a result, an increasing number of real-estate brokers is willing to rent their locations for short term periods. There are even some who switched to solely offering places for short term loan. Despite the tide seems to change in favor of brands willing to temporally execute a store, the majority of the real estate brokers is not willing to offer them a short-term contract yet.

4.3.7 Size

The most comprehensive definition of pop-up retail referred by in the introduction is provided by Gordon (2004). A part of his definition says that pop-up stores are „generally in smaller venues that foster more face-to-face dialogue with brand representatives‟. Collins (2004) even describes temporary pop-up locations as “tiny outlets that open and do business for a month or so before packing up and moving on” (p.1). Were normal stores try to get as much presentation surface as possible to display all their products, a pop-up store generally promotes only one type of product or product line as this is the best way for visitors to get familiar with a product in a short period of time. When a pop-up store becomes too large and half of the store‟s space is empty, this will negatively influence the visitor‟s experience. Of course the size of the store differs by the diverse aims of implementing a pop-up store. Generally companies give it their best shot to create a good atmosphere and try to link this to their brand image. As a result some shops often are experienced similar to art galleries or theatres (“Shop till you pop,” 2009). Despite the fact some well known brands use very large impressive buildings, the strength can be found in the smaller sites providing an impressing experience and surprise effect.

4.3.8 Accessibility

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say that a positive consumer experiences inducing pleasure, which is primarily triggered by an emotionally charged experiential retail environment, can in some instances compensate for other shortcomings of the store. This could also apply to the accessibility. The final outcome of a study about accessibility performed by Ashley et al. (2010) provides a surprising result. It shows that consumers with lower access were slightly more committed to visit a store than consumers with higher access. They state that this outcome can be attributed to the commodity theory, which means that the lower access could be interpreted as a signal of specialness enhancing the store‟s desirability (Ashley et al., 2010). This seems to be something very applicable to pop-up stores because most of the time the company utilizing the store tries to create some sort of urgency, specialness and exclusiveness by only offering the store temporarily.

4.4 Characteristics and their influences

The previous paragraphs reviewed several important differences between normal retail and pop-up retail location characteristics. To provide a clear view of the actual influence of these factors, image I is provided. Every characteristic discussed is assigned to the phase(s) it most directly influences by making use of the earlier classified phases of selecting potential store locations. These three phases, macro → city (1), meso → area (2), and micro → site (3) are also the basis regarding the upcoming quantitative part of this research.

Image I Pop-up store location characteristics

5. The research method

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In order to keep a clear outline in regard of the city selection, the cities are chosen by being a country capital and by their number of inhabitants. Next to the sixteen capital cities, the added twenty-five cities were rated eligible for inclusion since they hold at least 500.000 inhabitants or more. Eventually it lead to a total of forty one cities of interest. The selected countries and cities are displayed in appendix I table I. A mapped overview displaying the selected countries and cities can also be found in appendix I in image I to VI.

Image II Map of Europe and the 16 selected countries.

5.1 Subjects of interest

After the selection of the sixteen countries and their largest cities, the actual store locations can be identified too. As it is impossible to know and discover every spot these stores pop up, a solution is found. As stated earlier in section 3.3 regarding the „characteristics of a pop-up store‟, pop-up stores can have many different forms and identities. Moreover, in section 4.3.6 about „vacancy and temporary contracts‟ it is mentioned that as a result of the high vacancy rate of retail locations, more and more real-estate brokers are willing to rent their locations for short term periods in favor of potential tenants. There are even brokers that switched to solely offering their places for short term loan. Consequently there are two different, though very similar, sorts of pop-up stores at present. The ones popping up in empty retail locations which are described in this research so far, and pop-up store locations offered by intermediaries who reacted to the pop-up store phenomenon and the potential tenants dependence on the willingness of real estate brokers to rent their space for only a short period of time. This second group offers fixed locations which especially can be rent for short term periods to be used as pop-up store, product launch or presentation site. As long as the main purpose of the store remains to offer visitors a short-term, personal, unique and exclusive interaction to get familiar with a brands‟ product in an experiential manner, the idea practically remains the same. As the locations concerning the second kind of pop-up store can be mapped more precisely and the store site characteristics will not be very different, the second type of pop-up store will be of interest regarding the quantitative part of the research. In the Netherlands an organization called „Brandnew Stores‟ picked up the second type of the pop-up store format (“using Brandnew Stores,” n.d.). They created (fixed) locations in the cities of Amsterdam, Amstelveen, Groningen, and Rotterdam which can be rented for a period of one to four weeks and in which a company can build its own brand experience. It is expected that more of these formats are found in multiple other countries and cities of Europe and will provide a sufficient number of observations to identify the pop-up store environment.

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„creative‟ areas of a city. As is stated by Culverwell (2011), the stores need suitable locations which provide a good fit between the product they offer and the customers in the neighborhood. As important this is for the first type of pop-up store, it also is to the kind of pop-up stores used in the upcoming quantitative part of the research. However, before the actual locations of these pop-up stores can be selected and mapped, a clear definition of the used type of pop-up store format is needed. Therefore the original definition of pop-up stores by Gordon (2004) is adjusted which lead to the following description. Pop-up stores are „fixed spaces offered by an intermediary company that are only available for a short time period, offered with the primary goal to provide companies, brands or individuals the opportunity to execute a temporary exhibition of their products and brand by creating a marketing environment that is highly experiential and fosters face-to-face dialogue among brand representatives and consumers‟.

5.2 Data collection

Given the newness and relatively sparse literature on the pop-up store concept, ready to use data to perform research is not available. Therefore the data collection was performed by desk research and preceded in two subsequent phases which took a little over six weeks. The first phase of the data collection consisted of identifying the store locations and was primarily performed by using the internet. To identify as many temporary retail locations as possible, different terms of search in multiple languages were used. Initially by making use of the Dutch and English version of Google, the first group of stores was identified. Thereupon the same terms of search were used, though, these were translated in the country‟s official language as well. When there were no more new locations to be identified, the collected locations were mapped and analyzed by making use of Google maps. Thereby the different store areas, the number of stores per city and the distance to the nearest service locations as public transportations stops, central train stations and sightseeing activities were mapped. Eventually the search generated over one hundred store locations and lead to a data file containing pop-up store locations in forty one different cities.

After the identification of the store locations it was possible to collect the data on city demographics, economics, safety, innovativeness and tourism. In order to collect the city statistics, Eurostat and the European Urban Audit were used. The first information source, Eurostat, is the European Unions‟ official supplier of high-quality statistical information and facilitates the possibility to compare different countries and regions op Europe. The second source, the European Urban Audit, provides a collection of comparable statistics and indicators of European cities every three years. This is realized by twenty-seven cooperating national statistical offices working together under the coordination of Eurostat. The offered data provides variables describing the quality of life in more than three hundred European cities and proved to be very useful on behalf of this research. Eventually the combination of using Google and the input from these two sources resulted in an extensive file containing multiple figures on pop-up store locations, their environment and figures concerning their city attractiveness.

5.3 Data analysis and instruments

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phase of the quantitative analysis, the influence of the macro characteristics, will be presented. Secondly a number of descriptive frequencies regarding the second phase, the meso analysis, is displayed. Despite the simplicity of the used statistic concerning the second phase, it will provide some valuable figures regarding the areas of the store locations. Lastly the results of the third phase, the micro analysis, will be shown.

In order to provide some first sight results and to get familiar with a small part of the collected data, a selection of some interesting descriptive frequencies is combined in one bar chart which can be seen in image III below. A summary of the descriptive statistics concerning all the collected variables is added and can be found in appendix II table I. The SPSS results used to compose the bar chart can be found in appendix II in table II and table III.

By taking a look at the tables and results of the descriptive frequencies which are combined in image III, it can be seen that 53 observations are identified as stores located in country capitals, 48 observations as stores in other cities, and 15 observations as cities that do not host a pop-up store. So eventually the collected data provided a total of 116 observations. Furthermore, the charts also shows that there is 1 store in five cities, 2 stores in seven cities, 3 stores in six cities, 6 and 8 stores in two cities, and 4, 5, 9 and 18 stores in one city.

Image III Number of stores per city divided by capital city and normal city

5.3.1 Macro-level

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Population - Indicates the total number of inhabitants a city hosts. Used earlier as a city selection variable, in the

regression analysis the variable accounts for the cities number of potential consumers. Therefore the relation between the number of pop-up stores and the population figure is expected to be positively directed. If the number of city inhabitants increases, the number of potential customers and presence of multiple target groups will most likely increase to. As a result it is expected that the number of stores will increase if a city hosts a greater number of inhabitants.

Capital - City classification, in this case every city that is indicated to be a country capital. The variable proxies

the potential greater number of stores due to the attractiveness of the capital city characteristics. It is expected that the number of stores will be higher if a city is labeled country capital. Generally, and as can be seen in the collected data-base, country capitals are larger than normal cities and therefore could attract more customers. The attractiveness of the capital city possibly leads to a greater number of pop-up stores within the city.

Economic activity rate - A rate that indicates the percentage of the city population that constitutes to the

manpower supply of the labor market, irrespectively to their current labor status, and can be used as a measure of economic success in the form of production activity(“using Eurostat,” 2011). The variable stands-in for the potential higher number of stores due to the city‟s economic prosperity. A high economic activity rate is expected to be positively related to the number of stores. If a city produces more products it is expected to be wealthier and more attractive for companies to locate their store.

Unemployment - Measure that indicates the percentage of individuals who are currently unemployed, though

available to work. The variable only includes individuals who are indicated as actively seeking for a job and not every unemployed city inhabitant (“using OECD,” n.d.). The rate of unemployment indicates a city‟s economic prosperity in term of the city‟s status on employment. Therefore the number of stores is expected to be negatively related to the city‟s unemployment rate. A high amount of unemployment indicates low economic prosperity and possibly makes a city less attractive to locate at.

Ln tourist overnight stays - The natural logarithm (Ln) of the tourist overnight stays per year in registered

accommodations. The Ln of the variable accounts for a relatively small number of very high scores that distort the results. It excludes outlier numbers and flattens the variable in order to make it more normally distributed. The variable proxies a possible high number of pop-up stores due to flourishing tourist activity. The number of pop-up stores is expected to be positively related to the number of tourist overnight stays since a high number tourists and tourist activity can result in a higher number of potential customers or visitors. Therefore it could make a city more attractive to exploit a pop-up store which brings along a positive relation.

Museums - A count variable of the total number of museums within a city. The variable is expected to relate to

the number of potential pop-up store locations as it is indicated that the direct environment of a tourist attraction is a valuable potential pop-up store location. Furthermore it also indicates potential tourist activity of a city. Therefore it is expected that the number of pop-up stores will increase in relation with the number of museums a city hosts.

Car thefts - Indicates the number of car thefts in relation to the number of city inhabitants. Since it proxies the

city‟s rate of criminality and safety, it accounts for the potential attractiveness to locate a pop-up store. Therefore it is expected that the number of pop-up stores will decrease in case the number of car thefts increases. So a relation with a negative direction is predicted.

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The overall significance of the used statistic model and the approximate variability are indicated by the P-value, as can be seen in the ANOVA table, and the R-squared in the model summary. Both tables can be found in appendix II as table IV and table V. The results show that the model turned out statistical significant with a P-value of 0.000. With an R-squared of 0.728, approximately 73% of the variability of the number of stores is accounted for by the variables in the model. More interesting in this case is the adjusted R-squared, which indicates that about 70% of the variability is accounted for by the model, also by taking into account the number of independent variables.

The results of the multiple regression of the first phase of the quantitative analysis are displayed in table I below. The outcome of the first variable, the population, shows a P-value of 0,449 and B-value of -5,011 which indicates a non-significant negative relation (α=0.05 and α=0.10). With a P-value of 0.012, the only variable that turned out significant on a α=0.05 level and with a positive directed relation (B=1,820) is the number of tourist overnight stays. However, it must be considered that a natural logarithm (Ln) of the variable is used. As can be seen in appendix II table I, which displays all the descriptive statistics of the collected variables, the figures of the tourist overnight stays were widely distributed. By taking the natural logarithm and excluding outlier numbers, the variable is flattened in order to make it more normally distributed. The transformation of the Ln produced a new variable that is mathematically equal to the original variable but is expressed in a different measurement. So it has to be considered that the result is based on the natural logarithm of the variable. The values regarding country capital and economic activity rate both show a negative relation with B-values of -0,956 and -0,089 and both turned out non-significant with P-values of 0,417 and 0,435(α=0.05 and α=0.10). Unemployment appears to be significant on a α=0.10 level with a negative directed relation (B=-0,184) and P-value of 0,089. The number of Museums and Car thefts also turned out significant on a α=0.10 level, both with a P-value of 0,068. The B-values also indicate that both relations are positively directed with B-values of 0,036 and 0,290.

Table I Multiple regression results number of stores

5.3.2 Meso-level

Pop-up retail

Pop-up retail

‘The characteristics

of a valuable pop-up

store location’

H.M.G. Koelen

s1910523

University of Groningen

Table of contents

1. Introduction

1.2 Problem statement

2. Research approach

3. Literature review

3.1 Non-traditional marketing: ‘flying below the radar’

3.2 The experience economy

3.3 The pop-up store

4. Location characteristics

4.1 ‘Prosper or fail’

4.2 Current developments

4.3 Site selection: Macro, Meso and Micro level

4.4 Characteristics and their influences

5. The research method

5.1 Subjects of interest

5.2 Data collection

5.3 Data analysis and instruments