Authored by Ghalia BOUSTANI*
Abstract
Ephemeral stores have several features that appeal to consumers and brands; to the former, they present an innovative and exciting concept and to the latter, they are agile tools helping brands meet specific objectives. Previous research developed on the subject has focused on studying pop-up stores in the North American and European markets. Following a qualitative study, the objective of this research was the understanding of the reasons for the adoption of ephemeral stores by Lebanese brands. The study’s results highlighted specific features related to the adoption of Lebanese pop-up stores; these formats can be testing or experimentation tools. Pop-up stores can also serve to mover merchandise or communicate brand novelties. Finally, in the Lebanese context, pop-up stores can trigger customer surprise or reinforce the brands’ social dimension. The current research findings join the results of previously published studies.
Keywords: Ephemeral stores; Pop-up stores; Ephemeral retailing
Introduction
So far, academic literature has focused on studying traditional or virtual stores rather than ephemeral stores. Nevertheless, some research which has been particularly interested in these retail outlets underlines important features that these stores have and their resemblance to experiential stores. These “temporary”, “ephemeral” or transitory stores call for a new initiative that merits our attention.
Many brands have been recently adopting ephemeral stores; whether to open up a seasonal retail store, an ephemeral bar, a pop-up restaurant, an interactive kiosk or a hangar by the sea, retail brands are adopting formats that best meet with their needs and that could relate best to the target audience [1]. Albeit the conception and application’s facility of ephemeral stores, today’s market competitiveness makes it difficult for entrepreneurial brands to stand out facing retail giants if their concepts were not innovative.
The brand ideas behind their ephemeral store projects are to offer customers new environments in which they can immerse and through which they can come closer to them [2]. There are different motives to the adoption of these stores by brands; to name a few, ephemeral stores are communication tools helping the brand reveal ideas, concepts or product lines. They also help the brand sell product lines or exclusive lines within a short period. Unlike other marketing and communication tools, ephemeral stores allow brands to collect insights about their customers and from their customers instantly. Despite their success, ephemeral store adoptions remained mainly in North America and Europe up until the years 2013 [3,4].
What Is Meant By « Ephemeral Stores »?
Also known as “pop-up stores”, ephemeral stores are platforms that interest both consumers and brands. They have several particularities which make them attractive and which differentiate them from traditional points of sale. Brands find the concept interesting and fit well into their strategies. Indeed, “even if pop-up stores cannot last for long, they are here to stay” [5,6]. will be motivated by the fact that it is uncertain to find the pop-up store, or the offer presented before it disappears. This fact has been explained by interpretations like “here to-day; gone tomorrow, or “now you see it; now you don’t” [7].
Pop-up stores are transportable distribution concepts [8] which give “flavor” to the retail environment; they operate as a magnet attracting those who are likely to be charmed by the brand’s innovations (Shopify, n.d.). Pop-up stores are also described as communication tools conveying the brand’s promise, its history or its message [8]. Several brands take advantage of these stores to test their products or concepts, knowing that they will not be “judged” if they fail [5].
A great advantage of pop-up stores is the fact that they can be easily assembled or disassembled [9,10] admitting a new unconventional form, inexpensive, and allowing brands to avoid overhead costs and rental costs [11]. Besides, they can transform abandoned places or spaces into attractive spaces by giving them a new meaning, even a new expression. The appearance of ephemeral stores makes places more attractive, thus bringing more traffic or flows of consumers and/or passengers [12]. Pop-up stores take advantage of seasonality and events; they take advantage of it when the consumer is most vulnerable to take a (positive) action towards buying, tasting, visiting, experimenting at the expense.
By building the pop-up store space, the brand informs, educates or gives visitors a chance to discover the space. It is committed to offering the consumer a unique experience in a physical environment while creating an immersive consumption experience. The concept of pop-up stores is linked very closely to experience or a form of experiential marketing [13].
The disadvantages, on the other hand, show that this type of point of sale cannot necessarily support the success of the brand because of its short duration [14,15]. Also, the impact of pop-up stores can disappear if the concept lasts a long time or if the same concept is repeated several times. Consequently, the brand requires a permanent renewal of the themes that will reflect the pop-up stores presented [16]. It is important to consider the installations necessary for assembly and operation within the ephemeral store. Finally, it is not always easy to find an ideal location for the ephemeral store and the negotiation to secure the premises at affordable prices is also a questionable point [17].
Ephemeral Store Characteristics
A successful pop-up store presents the unique product or service at the optimal price, adapts it to the location and offers a fun experience (Retailtouchpoints, nd): it is characterized by its ability to reflect the brand’s identity to the target customers in a given location and for a limited period.
The characteristics of the space include accessibility, interior design and identity. This logic corresponds to the characterization of physical stores, however, rethought from a point of view corresponding to pop-up stores. The view from the outside seeks to make it visible. If the pop-up store uses space comparable to a traditional store, it must present the same logic and the same criteria as traditional stores. The identity of the pop-up store can only be enhanced by the presentation of an “unforgettable” theme [18].
We evaluate a pop-up store by the choice of location. Neglected places or abandoned places like train or metro stations, theaters or castles, or urban places are examples of places where a brand cries to place its pop-up store. In context, a place can be reinvented or created; there are therefore new uses for empty or abandoned spaces [5,12] (examples of the places created are Souk el Akel in Beirut and BOXPARK in London) [19] (Daily Star, 2015). The location is a criterion that helps brands strengthen their reputations [12].
Pop-up stores are positioned between the virtual and the traditional: they materialize the concepts of virtual brands through physical representations on the one hand and build links be-tween traditional representations and digital commerce on the other [20].
Consumers believe that pop-up stores offer novelty and uniqueness. Also, they consider them as a place to test or a place where they can have a unique experience [21]. As for brands, they will have the power to engage directly with the visitor or the consumer through pop-up stores, to deliver them a unique experience [22].
Research Questions
Up till now, the study of pop-up stores has focused on the North American and /or European markets. They were able to contextualize these types of stores under the approach of experiential marketing. Studies have shown that they are a source of animation and surprise and that they stimulate new purchasing motivations. Following the direct contact between the brand and the consumer in pop-up stores, a multi-sensory experience is presented which will subsequently generate a generation of income, thus merging communication, experience and sale.
Very few studies have paid interest in the Middle Eastern Market and brand adoption of ephemeral stores in this market and particularly in Lebanon. This research seeks to understand the reasons for ephemeral store adoption by Lebanese brands and the motives behind this adoption. Thus, our study enquires the following questions: how are the ephemeral stores operating on the Lebanese market, how do they resemble or differ from the characterizations proposed in existing academic literature and what are the reasons for which the Lebanese brands adopt pop-up stores?
Methodology
Using semi-structured interviews [23], we collected qualitative data to better understand the motivations of respondents towards pop-up stores in Lebanon [24].
The sample’s composition is relatively heterogeneous in terms of respondents (3 men, 10 women) and brands (15 brands in total; local and international; developing or well developed). We stopped our collection when the responses had reached the semantic saturation threshold and subsequently began to report less novelty to the responses obtained. All the interviews managed during the period of November and December 2015 and January 2016 were recorded and transcribed in full.
All the content of the interview was integrally transcribed, and each interview labelled with information related to the brand, industry, date of the interview and the total time of the interview. Following a vertical and horizontal content analysis, we purified the transcribed texts and we extracted reoccurring verbatim. Then the construction of a “frequency of appearance” grid allowed us to collect the items that appear most by the majority of respondents.
Results
Qualitative data analysis reveals results representing the specificities and characteristics of the ephemeral stores operating on the Lebanese market according to the developed brands and the brands under development. A clear separation of discourse is highlighted when it comes to brands fitting in either/or categorization. In the case of developed brands, the adoption of pop-up stores follows a clear strategy and expects specific results from its project. As for developing brands, pop-up stores are a means of gaining access to a market, building an address book or improving visibility while hoping to sell the collections on offer. For Lebanese brands, a pop-up store is:
A test and experimentation tool: Lebanese brand managers can test the market using ephemeral stores. These types of stores are means of testing and exploring a distribution channel envisaged by the brand or they can help in testing brand concepts or brand products/collections. In the former case, brands that operated through seasonal markets or kiosks and looking to explore a traditional distribution channel, such as a boutique, profited from ephemeral stores to test whether the brand’s identity could be transposed onto the desired format and whether the brand has the capability of operationalizing its supply and teams to meet with the standards if the desired format. In the latter, Lebanese brands adopt ephemeral stores to test new concept or collections and get the reactions from their customers, convinced that customers “tend to forget” and “be less judgmental” after visiting the ephemeral store as, in case of failure, the brand will refrain from repeating it.
A strategy of movement of goods: According to Lebanese brand’s distribution strategy, an ephemeral store can be a means of helping the brands to liquidate or sell their products. How-ever, the sale of products must not be confused with destocking operations; an ephemeral store represents an opportunity and a possibility to present exclusive and limited products for a limited time and a targeted clientele. The ephemeral store’s appearance during a particular time or seasonal event was an opportunity to present limited edition collections with limited stocks that privileged customers could get hold of during the time of the event. In other cases, developing brands seized the opportunity of appearing in ephemeral stores to propose their collections to audiences that they haven’t been able to reach beforehand.
A trigger for surprises: Time is a key element in the design of ephemeral stores. Lebanese brands take advantage of the brief appearance to trigger instant actions, such as product proposals or promotional offers, accompanied by the creation of the surprise effect. Brand man-agers are also aware of the power of ephemeral store’s surprise effect on consumers; “surprised” consumers will have a positive reaction towards the brand that can engender engagement, purchase or other actions. Most importantly, when the surprise effect is positive and strong, customers will generate a positive buzz and positive word-of-mouth regarding the “happening”.
A communication tool: Lebanese brands want to focus their efforts to communicate ephemeral stores through social networks and to communicate at the location of the event. Social media communications seem to be indissociable from the ephemeral store formula on the Lebanese market. Intense communications on social networks share information about the brand and tease customers before the announced date. What is remarkable though is the communications taking place “during” the event. Lebanese brand managers intensify information sharing, photo sharing and encourage customers to “post, share and tag” comments and pictures about their experience during their visit or regarding their purchases. Lebanese brand managers also consider that the brief appearance of an ephemeral store is “in itself a means of communication”, and this is a rare tool that they are keen on investing in regularly.
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