Pop-up What?

They do not work for the brands they are selling, but they are paid for the event to promote it and invite their friends and acquaintances. What’s wrong with writing, styling, and blogging? Nothing, there’s just so much more in the luxury pie to bite from, they say.

Pop-up stores (or flash shops) are an important retail tool today. These are temporary shopping spaces that open from anywhere between a day to a year, and then popping off to another location thereafter. They could be a sample sale or a pop-up store in another store (or cafe, salon, bookstore, or even a high tea). Yes they are “trending” as in spite of being makeshift, they involve customer interest and a general feeling of exclusivity. Flash retailing is entertaining, experiential and helps sales.

Flash retailing is generally an American idea. Weeks before Halloween, costume shops open up in close-by areas. The quaint mom-and-pop idea is now an international sales strategy, especially successful in slow economies.

Several big-name retailers and chain stores, like Target for Missoni and Rodarte for example, indulge in promotions to spike shopping. These are crowded events, with long waiting queues before opening time and an-elbow-in-your-chest shopping experience.

Websites use pop-ups to bring traffic to their sites. Perniaspopupshop.com is an e-retailer run by the stylish Pernia Qureshi (she styled the film Aisha and is besties with Sonam Kapoor) that often has flash sales of designer labels she doesn’t usually stock.

Several designers host trunk shows in cities where they do not have stores. They hire a ballroom in a five-star hotel, a socialite to invite her rich gal pals and host a cocktail and canapes for a day or two, before they return the next year for the same. This is also interesting because clients can meet and interact with designers personally. Clothes-makers can get a first-hand account of who their customer is and what his/her needs are.

But all is not good in the hood. Firstly, this concept does away entirely with a brick and mortar store. As do websites, but at least e-commerce offers a sense of security in permanence and after-sales service. A label still needs a flagship store. The brand still needs to have strong presence and immense recognition to carry a successful pop-up event on its shoulders.

But mostly, this is a short-term solution to fashion’s bigger problem: that of a bullying real-estate rental fee that’s threatening to cut the wings of the industry or eat it up entirely. Trunk shows also promote cash transactions, which are never good for the books.
So the next time we’re shopping with a Bellini in one hand, let’s note the extra price we’ve paid for it.

namratanow@gmail.com

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