In response to the current market challenges faced by landlords and brands, We Are Pop Up, the specialist international booking platform for pop-up retail spaces, has transformed its business model into a free-to-use service, abolishing all transaction fees for listings. We Are Pop Up connects brands and entrepreneurs with attractive pop-up opportunities in vacant retail spaces, ranging from full concessions through to individual shelves and rails, and in turn also drives additional revenue streams and bolsters the brand portfolios of landlords. The platform brings together a large social community of landlords, retailers, brands and entrepreneurs, providing the tools for them to work together in identifying mutually beneficial new opportunities, reflecting the new sharing economy.
Leon Goldwater, CEO, We Are Pop Up, said: “With the physical retail sector worldwide currently facing significant market stresses due to the pandemic, it is important that all parts of the industry should collaborate and help each other through these difficult times. In a game-changing move, we have decided to fundamentally adapt our model along social enterprise lines, departing from traditional income streams to establish a ‘freemium’ service designed to support businesses, entrepreneurs and landlords. The ultimate aim is to deliver safe, attractive and engaging retail environments and brand experiences for customers, and additional revenue streams for property managers, with a focus on maintaining or boosting footfall during these challenging times.”
We Are Pop Up enables brands to rent spaces on a highly flexible basis, from a matter of days up to a whole year. Landlords including CBRE, JLL, Boxpark, and the Camden Markets are already working with retailers in this way. The platform also empowers brands to pop-up within established physical stores through Shop Share, or to draw on synergies with other like-minded companies to pool resources in shared pop-up spaces.
We Are Pop Up counts an existing customer base of thousands of independent fashion, food, art and homeware brands and entrepreneurs worldwide, as well as major corporate brands such as Unilever, Swarovski, Google, Etsy, Nike, Net-A-Porter, Six and Sons and many more. While free-to-use, the service will encourage users to consider donating a fee in return for the value they see generated from using the service, though there is no obligation to do so.
