The Great British Pop Up

22/07/2022

The Great British Pop Up initiative

Do you have an emerging British childrenswear brand that you want to get into a high street retailer? Do you want to raise your brand’s visibility and meet new customers? Take your brand offline into a physical store with high footfall? Then The Great British Pop Up initiative could be just what you’re looking for…

Founded in 2014, The Great British Exchange was born from the desire to support British businesses, revolutionise how retailers source and buy British-made products, and increase opportunities for the best of British brands. To help achieve this, The Great British Exchange offers its smaller producer partners various routes to market. This includes The Great British Pop Up initiative.

Matt Hopkins, managing director of The Great British Exchange, explains more. “I have always been passionate about supporting emerging British brands, creatively looking at ways to enhance customer experience. This led me to launch The Great British Pop Up initiative. I wanted to change the retail landscape from the semi-disposable world we currently live in and give consumers more product choice and the chance to know the story behind each product they buy.

“As a supplier of John Lewis for seven years with The Great British Exchange, we recognised an opportunity to work with this forward-thinking retailer. We have seen a demand for local, personalisation, and experiential brands, and we are working with John Lewis to deliver just that through our pop-up shops.”

A marketing opportunity and platform for business growth

The Great British Pop Up provides opportunities for the best small, independent British brands, allowing them to rent and manage their own retail space in a leading department store for one week. Space is available for businesses of all sizes and enables them to create an experiential version of their brand, sell their products in a large retail environment, and gain real-time feedback from customers in-store.

The Great British Pop Up currently works with John Lewis and Boots stores across the UK, delivering wide choice for small businesses to take part in their local vicinity.

How it works

To apply for a pop-up, interested parties need to register interest via The Great British Pop Up website. On completing the application form, the brand will be sent to the buyers for review. If approved, the business can then book a date and store for its pop-up and will receive a store pack and the opportunity to arrange their induction with the store. Pop-ups are rented on a weekly basis, with a discount of 10% on the rental fee if a brand books five or more weeks in-store, or books multiple stores. Throughout the process, all communication is channelled through a dedicated team at The Great British Pop Up, so participants can rest assured that support is always readily available.

Brands are responsible for managing their space and stock for the entire duration

They also need to provide their own stand-dressing and merchandise their stand with POS and props. Each store will, however, provide various fixtures and fittings to help display products. Every pop-up space is also provided with a card machine uploaded with their products. As with any event, it is strongly advised that brands use various marketing channels to promote their pop-up, both before and during the event, to achieve the best results. This includes social media, email campaigns and flyers as well as word of mouth.

Additionally, the pop-up shops aren’t simply to showcase local brands. They also allow businesses to create an experiential version of their brand. Examples of how to help bring a pop-up to life include educational demos of products. Or, if a brand offers personalisation on products, doing this in-store.

At the end of the pop-up rental the brand receives a sales report, which it invoices The Great British Pop Up for. The report will show all products sold, gross sales amount, net sales amount, tax and commission deductions. So, what are the costs? The rent rate for pop-ups ranges from £200 to £500 per week plus VAT. (Prices depend on the store and time of year.) An additional 22% commission from the pop-up’s proceeds will also be paid to the retailer.

CASE STUDY:

Tiny Bubbles

In 2017, inspired by the birth of her first baby, Lauren started her childrenswear brand Tiny Bubbles. The business began with Facebook orders from family and friends before developing into the wonderful, small independent business that it is today.

Tiny Bubbles’ online store has become synonymous with first-class service and fun childrenswear designs. The pop-up allowed this to be reflected in-store, while the customer engagement was both beneficial and uplifting for the brand. Lauren hosted a Great British Pop Up in John Lewis, Leeds from 25-31 October 2021. Here she explains her experience of showcasing her brand through the initiative.

“It was such a whirlwind, and I couldn’t have asked for it to go better. I had a target in mind for what I’d like to take. This was met and exceeded, so I couldn’t be happier. The whole process was so smooth, and it made for a really amazing opportunity. Having the chance to put myself in John Lewis and hear literally thousands of comments about my brand is such an incredible feeling. So thank you once again to the whole team.”