What did we learn during our Fenwick Christmas Pop Up Shop?

From 2-8th December 2021, we had the amazing opportunity to take our brand Joanies into Fenwick Brent Cross. This opportunity was presented to us by The Great British Pop Up. Their entire ethos is centred on giving small businesses the space to show off their brand to a large audience.

We had the most amazing time running our pop up shop and wanted to share with others looking into this opportunity our top tips for undertaking such a venture.

Approach Everyone

We saw our pop up shop as a chance to shout about our brand from the roof tops. Therefore, we wanted to talk to as many people about our products, our story and our vision as possible. By doing this we were firstly able to convert a number of passers by into customers. Many people initially did not pay much attention to our stand, however once we engaged in conversation with them they felt a connection with the brand and in turn made a purchase. Furthermore, by talking to the general public about our brand we also made a number of connections who will be instrumental in taking our small business to the next level. Instead of viewing our event as purely a sales activity, it was an excellent network and marketing event too!

Be receptive to feedback

Our Christmas pop up was the first time that we had taken Joanies out to the wider public. Prior to this we had solely traded online via our website. As such, this was an amazing opportunity to obtain face to face feedback on our products, packaging and branding. By chatting to customers about what they liked and disliked we have been able to make some key changes to Joanies which we hope will enable it to grow in the future. For example, a key piece of feedback centred on our range of colours. We now have plans in place to introduce a darker colour to our collection in 2022.

Be prepared

I cannot stress this point enough. You need to ensure that you arrive early to set up your stand and that you bring the POS equipment you need to make your stand bespoke to you. Joanies took part in Fenwick’s Christmas pop up. As such, we were positioned alongside other brands. There was a huge difference in the displays of the brands who brought their own equipment and those who relied solely upon that provided by the store (we worked with Fenwick who only provide limited POS equipment, I believe that other stores such as John Lewis and Boots are far better prepared in this sense). By making your stand attractive you are much more likely to attract the attention of passers by. We had been to visit another pop up in the store previously and had seen the size and space that we had to work with. This helped us to devise a display that would stand out.

Enjoy it!

As a small business we have a limited budget for sales and marketing events such as pop up shops. We therefore knew that we needed to make the most of our time at Fenwick as it would be the only Christmas event that we would take part in for 2021. We knew that this was a huge opportunity for us and that we wanted to squeeze every last drop of enjoyment and learning from the experience. At Joanies we suggest that you approach each day with renewed enthusiasm and energy. There may be quiet times of the day, but it is important not to let a low selling morning dampen your afternoon vigour!

Overall, we had an amazing time at our pop up and have decided to book in some more dates for 2022. For Joanies is was a great opportunity to increase brand awareness and meet our lovely customers face to face. If you would like to chat to us in more detail about our experience please don’t hesitate to get in touch via email at info@joaniesuk.com