The new trend in the retail world? Temporary and pop-up stores, perfect for creating engaging experiences for customers, leveraging social media and digital marketing to the fullest. Let’s discover this trend in Milan.
Milano knows pop ups and temporary stores very well, because they keep springing up, and are increasingly impossible to ignore, especially during Fashion Week and Design Week: indeed, more and more brands are seizing the opportunity to create true temporary retail experiences that, thanks also to promotion on social media, become real destinations to visit just to be able to say – and show – that they’ve taken part in something unique and unrepeatable..
When talking about temporary and pop up stores we refer temporary retail options – sometimes opened in existing structures, other times created ex novo and located in strategic points of the cities – remaining open for a few days or weeks in the case of pop-ups, and even a few months in the case of temporary stores. But why do we see more and more of them, especially in big cities like Milan?
According to architect Alessandro Cesaraccio, this type of retail is destined to increasingly assert itself as a “trend-setter”. According to Forbes, however, temporary retail is more than just a trend: it’s a full-fledged marketing strategy, experiencing exponential growth in the fashion industry and beyond because it works in synergy with digital marketing and the social presence of brands.
This is especially obvious in light of one of the top five retail trends in 2023 was the so-called “social media sentiment monitoring”, a tactic aimed at gathering information on how people express themselves about a retailer or a brand on social media: this helps understand the customers’ preferences and behaviors; moreover, the use of digital marketing for temporary events, such as pop-ups, contributes to generating a sort of fear of being left out — fear of missing out, as “clients are attracted byexclusivity and the concept of ‘they’re only here today’”.
Pop up stores and temporary retail have a strong engagement potential, both online and offline, thanks to the strong immersiveness of the experiences they offer, specifically designed to transition the concept of retail towards that of “experience retail” supported by meticulously designed aesthetics and the involvement of the community through social media. So, this type of retail collaborates in creating an offline brand identity and increases user traffic on online pages, so that brands can then benefit from the data collected by digital marketing to monitor their customers’ preferences and accurately delineate their market and target audience.
According to data, the temporary retail industry seems destined for even greater growth: according to PopUp Republic , in the United States alone, the industry has grown by a whopping $10 billion in terms of sales, while research from CapitalOne Shopping predicts a market value exceeding $95 billion by 2025, quantifying that 80% of retailers who have opened a pop-up consider it a success.
What about Italy? Repubblica confirms that the trend to create a valuable experience for customers is also prevalent in our country, especially on the luxury side, which often translates into refurbishing flagship stores of many brabds but also events, happenings and temporary stores,increasingly used as a product launch strategy. Luca Solca, Senior Research Analyst, Global Luxury Goods at Bernstein, suggests the importance of inventiveness, crucial for setting up different stores that can “impress” customers.
From an economic standpoint, then, temporary retail is very convenient: as suggested by Benessere Economico, operating costs are limited over time; this is especially true when the pop-up is placed, as often happens, in strategical city spots, because it becomes a real investment and brings “numerous advantages such as customer loyalty, exploring new markets, enhancing the brand and its image, innovation in launching new products or services”. The experiential dynamic, with its strong emotional involvement, will be remembered and shared by consumers – especially online –, encouraging final purchases.
In general, most pop-ups are indeed opened to increase brand awareness, to improve consumer relationships, and to launch new products or collections. Milanese examples abound: in the fashion realm, last September, Prada conceived a project aimed at launching their new collection and, for the occasion, installed a temporary kiosk in Piazza della Repubblica, where flowers were given to passersby. The initiative generated huge word-of-mouth on social media, so much so that every day of its opening, the kiosk was besieged by people of all ages, forming significant queues in the square. A similar result was achieved in November 2023 by the temporary experience of the Fluffy Residence by Max Mara, organized on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the iconic Teddy Bear coat.
Last August, then, Larusmiani, in partnership with Deloitte, opened a temporary store defined as “hybrid” in Quadrilatero della moda, in a 300-square-meter space, with an industrial atmosphere rich in automotive references; the goal was to bring customers a “phygital” and revolutionary shoppoing experience enabled by the latest market technologies such as “a hologram capable of projecting a three-dimensional image of the products, a virtual try-on allowing customers to try on the garments in a virtual fitting room” without physically wearing them. Furthermore, the pop-up was equipped with a camera infrastructure capable of analyzing traffic data inside the store.
Moving away from the fashion world, a very successful case of a pop-up in Milan was that of Stranger Things: the iconic record-breaking Netflix series was the absolute protagonist of a temporary store dedicated to fans, located on three floors, for a total of 800 square meters where experiences and themed Stranger Things photo opportunities reigned supreme, complete with series merchandise available only at the pop-up, including a makeup line, clothing items, toys, and accessories.
Ultimately, from Milan to New York, passing through Rome, London, and Barcelona, major cities are increasingly becoming venues for temporary and pop-up stores. With the rise in such initiatives comes an increased demand for spaces to accommodate these types of retail: Wonder Event Space, located in Via Meravigli, within a historic residence just a few steps from Piazza Cordusio, will be another addition to this trend. The building’s ground floor, where the event space is located, is very well suited to hosting temporary retail and offers a refined setting to those who choose it: among barrel vault ceilings and Renaissance-style columns, it is possible to bring an unprecedented event and shopping experience to life, one where classic atmospheres blend with the most advanced technologies to create an immersive and captivating experience.
The space, thanks to refined aesthetic elements, it works very well also in terms of showroom for the fashion sector, also to launch products and collections. Moreover, Wonder Event Space, with its position– central yet not in a typically fashion-centric context, Wonder Event Space fully embraces the logic of the “place to be found” which, in synergy with social media promotion, collaborates in creating a true shopping experience; customers don’t stumble upon a pop-up of this kind by chance, but actively seek for it after encountering it on social media: this also contributes to a customer loyalty and, ultimately, to the success of the experience of temporary retail..
To inaugurate the meeting between Wonder Event Space and fashion, the launch of the capsule collection dedicated to Italian cinema, called “Cinema Club” and created by Apesi and Zalando in partnership. The event, which took place on February 21st, was a unique occasion, in the exclusive atmosphere of our spaces, to get a preview of the pieces, amongst the Renaissance columns in the Wonders Event Space.
Wonder event spaces offer the ideal environment for various types of events, all characterized by the sophistication of the location and the possibility of customizing it according to one’s needs, to create a completely tailored event.
