H + M Goes Creates Interactive Pop-Up Experience
By Hannah Ash, contributing writer
If the popularity of pop-up shops are an indication, today’s shoppers want to interact with their favorite retailers in venues outside of traditional retail store formats. H+M kicked off their “H+M Loves Music” tour at the famous Coachella music festival on April 11th and will be taking it to college campus after the festival’s end. The tour is tied around a new line of products offered by the retailer; the pop-up tent-style shop features an array of interactive experiences showcasing these new products.
With this pop-up experience, H+M is hitting on every aspect of the true omni-channel experience. The retailer is promoting a new line of products endorsed by select musical artists and is using the pop-up experience as a way to get the word out. The pop-up tour is being promoted on Tumblr instead of the retailer’s website. The retail website features ways for everyone, regardless of location, to get in on the interactive fun. H+M has exclusive music, user-generated social media content, films, an interview, and a contest that all showcase the Loves Music collection. The pop-up experience, held at Coachella and then at 3 colleges across the country, features the new collection, free hair and makeup services, a virtual runway, and the opportunity to be seen in the filming of a new music video for one of the retailer’s affiliated artists. The college stops will also feature a clothing swap for students to bring in old garments and receive new ones as well as a DIY station that allows students to then customize their new garments.
In November 2013, Google opened up a series of winter-themed pop-up shops. Google’s tents featured hands-on product demos and the ability to order products straight from the tent. Though the pop-up shop was once primarily a vehicle for online and independent retailers to reach a larger demographic, other retailers are now looking to share in the phenomenon. "It works out great because they [the pop-up retailer] get a chance to test out the market without making a large financial investment, and we get to supplement our inventory by offering items we don't normally carry," comments Jim Giddon, co-owner of New York’s Rothmans men’s store.