109: Pop Up Stores and Ephemeral Retailing

Pop up stores have been a huge trend in the retail industry. Retailers and brands have surged to host short term, exciting stores – both physical pop up shops and digital pop up initiatives too. In this podcast episode, dive into what makes pop up stores successful (or not) with Ghalia Boustani, pop up expert and author of the book: “Ephemeral Retailing: Pop-up Stores in a Postmodern Consumption Era”.

Listen in to this episode to discover:

• What are the key characteristics of pop up stores.
• Examples of brilliant pop up store execution or ephemeral retailing.
• If pop up stores should be able to show a clear return on investment.

 

Introducing Ghalia Boustani

Ghalia Boustani is an expert in pop up store strategy and execution. She is a researcher at Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, France, and holds a doctorate from  “Ecole Supérieure des Affaires” in Lebanon.

Her main research interest is in ephemeral retailing – or pop up shops. She completed her first study on pop-up stores in the Middle East and is now focused on pop-up stores in Europe.

Ghalia has been teaching marketing, fashion marketing and retailing courses, in several universities and business schools since 2011. Throughout her academic journey, Ghalia has also worked closely with businesses, professionals and entrepreneurs on several various projects that added value to her research.

Plus, she actually wrote the book on pop up retail. Entitled “Ephemeral Retailing: Pop-up Stores in a Postmodern Consumption Era” where she explores the strategies and tactics to make the most of short term retail opportunities.

Finally, she’s active on social media and is focused on ephemeral retail and new retail formats. In particular, Ghalia hosts a regular Instagram Live show called “Live with Ghalia”.

Discover more at Huckster.fr.

Follow her on Instagram as huckster_fr – and check our her regular live shows.

Watch her videos on YouTube

Read her book, “Ephemeral Retailing: Pop-up Stores In a Postmodern Consumption Era“, published by Routledge

Or connect with Ghalia Boustani on LinkedIn.

Examples of pop up stores discussed in the episode

AliExpess pop up store, Paris

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the Paris AliExpress pop up generated huge crowds. Furthermore, there was nothing to actually buy! Instead, the store looked to drive more traffic to digital channels to complete a purchase and fulfilment.

Huda Beauty’s first pop up shop, London

With several prestigious retailers (Harrods, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols) in London already stocking Huda Beauty products, Covent Garden in London was chosen for their first pop up store. Read more about this on TheStoreFront.com.

Magnum Ice Cream pop up indulgence, Paris and London

In Paris and London, this iconic ice cream set up a cool pop up. In particular, consumers could indulge with the brand and customise their toppings. Read more on the Magnum website.

Cartier Carat “Mille Facettes” pop up experience, Paris

From 2018, customers can understand the inspiration behind Cartier’s latest purfume. It includes a dark room for a unique sensory experience of light, sound and smell.

Shiseido pop up store, Paris

Blending an exhibition, a testing space, a commercial event location as well as a more casual social space. It also includes interactive, digital pods to understand more about the products.

Oliver Banks appearance on Instagram Live with Ghalia

Further podcast episodes of the Retail Transformation Show

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also enjoy listening to episode 19: Jumping Online To Offline (part 1) and episode 20: (part 2). In these episodes, you’ll hear Jennifer Fruehauf exploring examples of online retailers moving into physical retail. And some of these are in a pop up format.