Retail Gazette has helpfully summarised the latest pop up stores for online retailers. It's great to see a couple, De-Pop and Amazon, focusing on pre-loved items as the retail industry continues to work on the sustainability challenges caused by fast fashion in particular. Here's my take on a few brands that are looking at physical retail, or have done recently. 

ASOS launched its first pop-up store over the Black Friday weekend with, we understand, more to follow. It leaned heavily on experiential elements such as DJs, masterclasses and working with Snapchat to enable customers to ‘try on’ products via  digital avatars on themselves. I recently learnt that the younger generations use Snapchat for communication more than Whatsapp (did I miss the memo here?), so this is a clear strategic move from ASOS to build up their presence on the latest social media trends. Retail Gazette has reported that ASOS experienced a 43% traffic plunge over the Black Friday period, so no doubt significant analysis is going into why that was and whether the store made up for any of that. The brand continues to battle with the likes of Temu and Shein who are dominating fast fashion (and the advertising on my phone, even on Instagram). 

Whilst not technically a pure online retailer, Next recently launched its first Made concession since purchasing the brand on Black Friday too. Made has benefited from Next's ability to deliver products quickly and so it will be interesting to see whether Next's investment will produce more profitable physical retail for the brand. 

Looking back, Gymshark's first store is just over a year old. From the outside the bustling store looks like a great success, despite the impact of the hefty initial expenditure on the brand's accounts. The store is the epitome of ‘retail as experience’, with the latest event being free massages and manicures if you purchase an item in store from their new Rest Day collection. 

With the predictions in the market being that in the next few years we will see a rise in the proportion of sales being online plateau to a natural ceiling, with omnichannel becoming more prevalent than ‘bricks vs clicks’, we can expect to see more of these pop-up or long term experiential stores. The future looks different, but we're confident it will be bright!