Christmas pop up shops have the potential to bring in plenty of money for your business over the festive period, but with so many other brands doing the same, how can you make sure you stand out? Here, Andrew Dark, Director and Co-Owner of printwear and branding specialist, Custom Planet, shares his top tips for attracting customers to your pop up.
Christmas is a time for giving, and with average estimations of festive spending reaching £567 for 2018, it also presents a great opportunity for businesses to boost their yearly income (Deloitte). And, one way brands do this is to create a Christmas pop up that sells seasonal products and gifts that’ll attract customers.
But, with so much competition, it’ll pay to know how to make your store different to the others out there. Here are top tips for attracting customers to your Christmas pop up.
Choose the right premises
The location you choose for your pop up can make all the difference to its success. Consumers nowadays are heavily influenced by how appealing or ‘Instagrammable’ a place looks, so it’s key that your pop up is situated in an eye-catching spot. As well as inviting more people into the store, it’ll also raise the chances of people taking photographs and sharing them online, which in turn can win you more custom.
To ensure you select the right premises for your pop up, it’ll help to think what you want your pop up interior to include. For example, if you’re trying to create the illusion of a Santa’s grotto, you might want to secure a smaller, cosier space. However, it will also help to think of the products that you will be selling. You don’t want your pop up to be too tight if you’ll have delicate ornaments on display, but you won’t want too large a location if you stock small crafts, as there’ll be lots of empty space.
Design festive staff uniforms
Once you’ve got an idea of the type of space you’ll have available to you and how your pop up shop will look inside, you can begin designing staff uniforms that’ll fit in with your vision. This doesn’t mean you and your workers need to all dress as Christmas elves (unless you really want to!) but incorporating some fun Christmassy colours can help you to appear more cheerful and approachable.
Red, green and white are all popular Christmas colours, so try to incorporate these into your staff uniforms for a sure way to add festive cheer. When it comes to your logo, add a touch of Christmas by using festive illustrations in a clever way. For example, you could try drawing your brand name in the shape and colour of candy canes and get this printed onto your uniforms. However you choose to transform your uniforms, make sure that you keep in line with your usual branding so consumers will be able to easily recognise you once the holiday season is over.
Create festive packaging
When you’ve gone through the effort of adapting your product line for the season and dressing your pop up to get shoppers in the Christmas spirit, it’ll be equally as important to create festive packaging to complement their purchases — especially as many people may be buying gifts.
This doesn’t have to cost you an arm and leg. Instead, try investing in some branded gift boxes that you can cover in brown paper wrapping paper, finished off with a ribbon or string and a holly-inspired gift tag for a true festive feel.
Offer promotional branded freebies
When there are brands that are selling similar things to you, it’ll help to draw customers in with some freebies — but of course, you’ll want to make sure these are branded to remind them of you. As it’s Christmas, you’ll want to think of products that’ll be useful for them round the festive season.
This could include offering a free stocking or Christmas cookie cutter with each purchase over a certain amount, or a branded travel mug that’ll keep their hands warm on the frosty commute to work.
Start a buzz on social media
Once you know where your pop up will be and have had chance to take photos of the location and the set-up, it’s time to create a buzz about your temporary store and one of the quickest ways you can do this is to use social media. As many platforms are free to use, word can travel fast if you market yourself properly.
Use your brand pages to post details of your pop up, including location and opening times, as well as any special products you’ll be stocking or any entertainment you’ll have in the store. Having a good bank of images of the process as the project unfolds will help to get people excited, so make sure you’re keeping everyone up to date with it.
If your pop up is going to be in a shopping centre, try getting a mention on their social media to drum up some extra business, and make sure they tag your brand! Interacting with customers on their posts about your pop up can also help you to build rapports, making it more likely that people may visit your shop.
A Christmas pop up can significantly boost your end of year sales, so make sure you’re doing it right by following these top five tips.
Credit: Andrew Dark, Director and Co-Owner of printwear and branding specialist, Custom Planet.
Holly brings a wealth of experience in both print and digital publishing. As Modern Retail’s Content Editor, Holly is passionate about helping independent retailers to thrive in today’s ever-changing market.
