Since the digital age and the exhilarating rise in online shopping, retailers from around the world have proven their resiliency in the technological transformation and changing consumer habits.
But Covid-19 has thrown a spanner in the works, as commerce executives face their most challenging times in their business lifetimes. Non-essential brick-and-mortar retail stores now face two key challenges:
- Consumers' finances are under pressure as the rise in unemployment and uncertainty looms
- With no vaccine to prevent the spread of Covid-19, a large portion of consumers appear hesitant to return to in-store shopping
Rethinking the Retail Experience
To win back customers, these non-essential stores must rethink their customer experience in-store and online. No longer, and not likely for some time, are customers looking for an immersive shopping experience when they visit a store.
For many consumers, store visits have become stressful outings complete with face masks, social distancing, one-way systems, and queuing to enter. A large proportion would prefer to spend as little time as possible inside the store.
However, danger is lurking online, with signs of fraudulent activity on the rise in the midst of the turmoil, so moving business entirely online doesn’t necessary hold all the answers.
Introducing Pop-Up Retail Outlets
Pop-up retail storefronts and click&collect outlets could be the key to a much-needed business boost, as they can quickly adapt to the fast-changing shopping trends and new government regulation implementations.
Pop-up retail outlets have a fast turnaround and are incredibly flexible in terms of use, design and location. Retailers adapting to this pop-up format can easily design their new store with social distancing in mind, giving central focus to such elements as social distancing implementation or mobile checkouts.
Pop-up retail outlets can be utilised in a variety of ways during the pandemic, such as providing a haven to collect click&collect orders or offering a reduced product inventory for grab-and-go convenience.
Further, as pop-up retails outlets have flexibility in location, the store can be trialed to find the most profitable store location, ideal for stores that are located indoors inside once-busy shopping centres who may benefit from being in a less contained environment. This flexibility means the pop-up can move districts should there be a local lockdown.
Pop-Up Retail Outlets Post-Covid
In a post-Covid landscape, these pop-up retail outlets are relatively low-risk and low-cost testbeds for trends and experiences which can be applied to brick and mortar stores if successful.
By investing in a pop-up strategy during the pandemic, businesses can make profitable decisions in a post-Covid landscape, such as testing and learning formats before applying to the larger stores offering.
Shipping Container Conversion Pop-Up Stores
Shipping container conversions are ideal structures for pop-up retail outlets, as they are partially enclosed, providing natural airflow and an open-air element to make consumers feel at ease during the pandemic, and can be erected almost anywhere.
Flexible and fully customisable, shipping container conversions can be adapted and designed with social distancing in mind from the off go. For example, a counter with a safety screen can be added to ensure and maintain social distancing between employee and customers. A one-way system can be implanted with hand sanitiser on entrance and exit points provided.
Durable and weatherproof, shipping container conversions are the ideal pop-up structure for Autumn and Winter. When not in use, shipping container conversions are lockable and 100% secure, meaning stock can be left unattended overnight.
For more information on shipping container conversions as pop-up retail outlets, contact The Events Structure team on 0161 821 1010 today. We have a wide range of customised containers and pop-up units to help support your retail operations. All temporary pop-up structures are cost-effective, fully customisable and can be dispatched for both short- and long-term use immediately.