Hosting A Post-Pandemic Retail Pop Up Event
As we approach the summer season of 2021, the UK is finally beginning to recover from its continued period of lockdown. Expectedly, businesses are already announcing their plans for the year ahead, hoping to recover as much lost revenue as possible. Coinciding with this is the general public’s urge to return to a pre-pandemic way of life, demonstrated by event tickets and bookings selling out quickly.
A number of retailers are using this period of activity to attend various events around the country, as well as setting up their own headline-grabbing pop-up events, seizing the opportunity of revitalised interest in shopping. However, whereas they may have been prepared for and experienced in hosting pop-up events, circumstances have now changed, meaning that such events are different too.
Refresh Your Concept
Prior to 2020, retail pop-up events were celebrated for their activity, welcoming a number of excited shoppers into unusual, temporary spaces to browse and purchase products, many of which were often limited. While government guidance has allowed such activities to resume, there remains a certain hesitation among the public, which is likely to deter the same types of crowds as before. Instead, it is time to rethink and refresh your retail pop-up concept.
Swap your small spaces and confined shop fittings for open concepts, those that make use of outdoor spaces, enabling people to feel more comfortable. Or, if such a space isn’t achievable for your business, pursue a different method of promoting your product, alternative to simply selling an abundance of products. This could be, for example, an experiential pop-up event, that promotes the lifestyle of the brand instead of the product directly.
Increase Your Appeal
Your pop-up event should have significant appeal if it is to draw people into your space. Not only is this important to help outweigh a potential customer’s hesitancy to enter a new space but it is also important because retail competition is set to be more intense, with businesses each vying for their share of high street shoppers.
As such, it is important to ensure your retail space is presented with appropriate signage and displays, those mounted on pristine standoffs and able to stand out among a host of other businesses. As such, and when sourcing premium stand offs and sign fittings in the UK, be sure to choose a supplier that both understands your concept and offers premium products.
Review Your Risks
Risk assessments must now include COVID and pandemic-inspired protocols, to ensure that your business, employees, and visitors are as protected as possible. While certain precautions will have been written into your risk management previously, it is important that your paperwork reflect the diligence of your organisation. Even small additions, such as the availability of optional masks and hand sanitisers should become standard protocol.
Modernise Your Equipment
Contactless payments have become widely popular both for their ease of use and their elimination of contamination. A number of businesses are also choosing digital payments over cash solely for the efficacy and safety it ensures. All of these reasons are hugely beneficial to pop-up events too, as they are able to support safe, expedited spaces for customers, while simultaneously lightening the load of retailers who must otherwise incorporate cash and till equipment into their logistics.
