Leveraging Omni-Channel Marketing Benefits via a Pop-Up Shop

Melissa Gonzalez

Leveraging Omni-Channel Marketing Benefits via a Pop-Up Shop

It’s no secret that everyone has a digital footprint, providing companies with a plethora of information on past actions, interests, patterns and beyond. For retailers that properly utilize this information, personalization can be taken to a new level. And, the more technology advances, the more it's integrated into ones daily life and the lines between what people do online and what people do in real life begin to merge. As these lines merge, customers expect an omni-channel (not multi-channel) experience, a fully integrated and seamless experience regardless if they are shopping via desktop, a mobile device or in a physical store.

A brick and mortar store is great opportunity to immerse a customer in a personalized shopping experience, utilizing information they learn from multiple channels. Here are a few ways to deliver omni-channel strategies in your pop-up store:

First set up the proper lines of communication

Multiple points of interaction can be established through in a physical storefront via wi-fi with door counters, in-store sensors at key points, instagrammable stations and your point of sales system.  From the moment a customer is standing at a storefront window, a brand has the opportunity to connect and deliver a personalized experience.

With the right triggers, a sales person can be armed with information on who is entering your store, whether or not they have shopped your brand in the past and possibly their interests.

Dynamic and interactive displays

As demonstrated by companies like Mira, interactive displays give customers everything they love about seeing and trying a product in person, and adds the in-depth digital content they experience when shopping online.

From the front window, customers can visually experience the various colors offered by Mira and via an interactive screen in-store, they can dive into the app experience. Customers can fully understand how the bracelet can integrate into their lives while trying it on in-store.

Utilize online relationships to deliver a personalized in-store experience

Brands can also take notes from leaders like Disney that are bringing the online-offline experience. The My Disney Experience tool allows a user to plan their entire trip and then once in the park, they can use their app to find desired attractions, view the estimated wait time for each of them and store photos taken with Disney characters.

The key is keeping the online-offline experience personal and genuine. Customers should feel that each touch point is an organic extension of the other.

Seamless checkout

Who doesn’t love the new pre-order Starbucks checkout experience? For people on the go, it’s a dream (as long as the staff properly manages the queue).  It remembers your past purchases and preferences and rewards you additional points for pre-ordering.  Brands that deliver a seamless checkout create an environment where their customers walk away delighted.

Although designing a unique check out app may not always be feasible, in-store staff can be armed with iPads and trained to assist customers one-on-one as needed and keep the process as streamlined as possible.

In today’s day and age, customers are armed with options, choices and easy access to information, but so are brands. They key is listening and using the information provided to deliver an immersive and personalized experience.

In a pop-up store, where customers expect to be surprised and delighted, they are also more open to experimentation. For those brands that leverage technology yet focus on keeping the end users experience in mind, the integration can be powerful.


About the Author

A former Wall Street Executive, Melissa Gonzalez is the founder of The Lion’esque Group, a firm of pop up shop experts who have produced more than 100 retail experiences in New York City, Los Angeles, and the Hamptons. Some of her clients include major brands such as COTY/Marc Jacobs, CAT Footwear, J. Hilburn, and Food52, and she reflects on her work in her book, The Pop-Up Paradigm: How Brands Can Build Human Connections in a Digital Age.

Learn more at www.lionesquegroup.com and connect with Gonzalez on FacebookLinkedIn, andTwitter.

The Pop Up Paradigm is available via Amazon and other major booksellers.