The festive season is a key time for retailers and one of the more popular periods for pop-up shops. But what should small businesses be thinking about when considering setting up a pop-up, and what steps do they need to take to ensure its success?
Temporary or ‘pop-up’ shops are proving a huge success for businesses by providing them with a more affordable means to ‘experiment’ with the high street, by testing their markets and the viability of their products, increasing their brand reach, and enabling access to new customers, all with less of the associated risks or costs.
The pop-up concept is becoming increasingly popular. The UK’s pop-up industry is estimated to be worth £2.3 billion, according to EE‘s Britain’s Pop-Up Retail Economy report.
Here are some tips to help you get your pop-up business off to a good start:
Find your space – Research footfall and customer base. Also cost and availability of the location. There are growing number of companies that cater to businesses and entrepreneurs looking for spaces on short-term lets.
Design your space – While it may be temporary, you still need to ensure that your space is visually inspiring, eye catching and engaging to attract footfall. So, don’t forget to keep a budget aside for design, but know that you will need to work inside the landlord’s guidelines of what is and what isn’t allowed within the space.
Open season – You only have a short space of time to grab people’s attention, so produce take-home leaflets or get your visitors to sign up to online promotions … anything which will help to jog people’s memories a day, week or month after visiting your pop-up store. Social media is great for this purpose.
Then there are the functional, practical aspects to figure out – If you need to raise finance, prepare a business plan using the research and preparation to demonstrate to finance providers that you are maximising the potential of the business. And don’t do it alone – choose an experienced accountant and business adviser who will give you the support and help you need and guide you in making the right decisions now and for the future.
At Beavis Morgan, we work with a number of entrepreneurs and startups, helping them set up and run their businesses, whilst navigating the challenges and advising them on making the right decisions both now and for the future. We also understand that whether you’re a startup or a well-established business, cash is king and managing its flow is crucial to your immediate and long-term success. That’s why our independent finance brokerage, BM Structured Finance, is readily available to assist startups source the right funding for their individual needs.
For more information about how we can help you and your startup business, contact Steve Govey, Partner within our Beavis Morgan Entrepreneur Support Team, or Simon Belton of BM Structured Finance.
Further reading: SME Adviser Series: An introduction to starting your own business