Setting up and executing a holiday pop-up station takes month of logistics and preparation, and most enterprise businesses know by late June or early July what kind of pop-up shop they’re planning for the holidays. If you’re interested in setting up pop-up stations in your brick-and-mortar stores this year, know that innovation is the key to engaging customers. It’s not simply about having them buy from your pop-up shops. You can also gather useful data and open new channels with existing customers, which can have long-term benefits for your company’s growth.
The holidays generally mean increased revenues, but it can also help you retain customers throughout the year. We will be looking at how technology can make your pop-up stations a unique experience by following an example of a customer in a clothing outlet.
Engaging Customers Through Your App
The key to multichannel retail is to actually start engaging a customer. Once they are actually interacting with the store’s channels, they can be more seamlessly directed between channels and touchpoints for optimizing conversions. The customer first sees digital signage in the clothing store’s entrance, telling them about the store’s app. It’s also at this time that, if they have the app already, the customer triggers a beacon by entering the store and is sent an alert by the application.
Both the signage and the alert will specifically mention using the app as an in-store companion, which utilizes augmented reality and the local displays. Some customers may simply be curious, but offering exclusive holiday deals through the app can also provide incentive to engage with this channel.
Pop-up Shops and the Customer Experience
The customer triggers another beacon by walking over to your pop-up station. They receive an alert telling them that the app will update real-time as they move from rack to rack with more information on your products. The virtual displays above the rack will trigger when a customer is in front of the rack and show a model wearing the item they’re browsing, like a virtual mannequin. If your POS system has enough historical data on a regular customer, it can even show them models that are their size.
As the customer moves from rack to rack, they can learn more about the item and also see what items would go well with what they’re currently browsing, similar to the classic ecommerce “Customers Also Bought” feature. Beacons will recognize what rack the customer is standing in front of and update information based on where they are standing. Alternatively, the customer can use their phone’s camera to scan the product’s sign and read reviews and browse sizes through augmented reality.
As they build their cart, they can add items to their cart in the app itself, the app can make more accurate suggestions as they customer browses items in your pop-up shop. The customer can also be offered holiday-related coupons if they linger in one spot, browsing items for a long period of time.
Convenient Mobile Point-of-Sale
Once the customer is ready to check out, they simply click the checkout icon, and their cart information is synced with one of the kiosks at the pop-up station. The cloud-based infrastructure allows customers to self-checkout right at the pop-up shop, which can increase overall conversions.
The single touchpoint for checkout allows the customer to pay just using their phone’s mobile pay, or inserting their chip into the kiosk and running through the standard checkout. Once completed, the customer is sent a digital receipt, and they are free to check out the rest of the store and continue shopping. The self-contained pop-up station acts as separate unit of the retail store, and can offer a unique experience for customers shopping for the holidays.
Planning For Your Holiday Pop-Up Stations
Your retail store’s holiday pop-up stations offers limitless potential to test out new product lines and partner with associated businesses. However, they are also an opportunity to experiment with emerging technologies. The tech we described above are no longer in-the-works, they’re being deployed right now in stores around the world. If you want to gather data on how valuable such tech can be for your retail stores, a pop-up shop is a perfect testing ground.
If you are planning out what pop-up shops you will set up this year, let us handle the logistics. We have worked with mid-sized businesses of all different industries, including retail. Our experience is only bolstered by our relationships with our technology partners, who can help create the engaging experience that customers demand. If you’re ready to prepare for the holiday season this year, learn how Worldlink can help your business manage your upcoming projects.