When you have an online business, you often put everything you have into your online presence. And, of course, that’s natural. It’s what you’re going to do when your website is basically your business! But, if you know that you want to expand, you really do have to make sure that you focus on more than just the online world. Maybe you want to go into retail or have a physical store presence at some point? Then, you need to venture into the offline world. Pop-up shops are great for this. You get to experience what it’s like to run a store in the short term, and start to build up your presence. But how do you do it?

 

Source Your Location

 

The very first thing you need to do, is work out where you’re going to do your pop-up shop. And this will require a lot of research. Based on the kind of business you have and where you’re based, you may want to do a pop-up at a traveling market, or an event that is related to what you sell? You could even secure a location in a retail unit for a short period or even inside another store. So start searching for opportunities and add them to your calendar to work out which you can do.

 

Source Your Equipment

 

When you know when are where you’re going to do this (even just before), you will then need to get some equipment together. This will be things like retail racks or shelves, an iPad POS stand, and signage. Because these are things that you may not necessarily have being an online business, but you will need to get them ready to sell in real life.

 

Work Out What To Take

 

Then, you’re going to need to work out what stock you want to take and how much of it. Maybe you even want some pieces stored close by or in a van in case you sell out (it’s better to be prepared). But not only that, you will also need packaging, bags, and gift wrap if you want it. You may even want to get small gifts with purchase to give out, or even discount flyers to put in the purchase bags too.

 

Market Your Presence

 

And then it’s onto one of the most important factors – the marketing. And you will need to really promote your presence using ideas like these specific marketing strategy tips. While you may get passing traffic, it can also be handy to really push your presence so others know to come to you.

 

Set Goals For The Day

 

Now, you do also need to make sure that you have your goals all lined out before the day of the pop-up shop. If you just head there and hope for the best, you may not really make the most of your time there. Instead, you should have a goal. Whether it’s about how many sales you want to make, or people you want to meet, have a goal written down. Then you can really motivate yourself to make this happen on the day, and then you also have something to analyze when the day is over too.