The big brands are going to saturate the people with the pop-up concept and it will ultimately lose its appeal. The big brands such as Gucci and Louis Vuttion are more concerned about creating a show, and being talked about, so they’re going to spend tons of money doing this, and at the end of it the customer will be jaded with the concept. Instead of focusing more on marketing, they should be focusing more on generating profits. How would they go about distinguishing the pop-up shops from their flagships? Offering targeted products, testing new and risky products. For example take Alexander McQueen’s shoe from his spring 2010 collection:
If I worked for the brand, Id be skeptical as to how many of these shoes we’d be able to sell. So in an attempt to effectively spend money and not over produce the shoes, Id create a small stock, and pre-sale them before the actual season, in a pop-up shop. Based on its sell through rate in the pop-up shop then I’d know if I should stock it at the flagship. I actually think the high-end department stores such as Barneys New York or Saks Fifth Avenue would benefit most from this model. Considering they’re less willing to take risk on designer pieces that may not sell through, or designers that are not well known yet. They could establish pop-up shops in which they have consignment deals with the new designers, and use the shops to gauge whether they should pick up the brand’s line and offer it at their flagship stores. Ultimately the goal should be first to generate profit and second to market the brand. Assuming that creating good marketing will ultimately lead to sales might not be the best assumption to make.
