Pages

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

My kind of pop-up

Maybe it's just my Shoreditchite ennui at boring, regular, real-world pop-ups, but I'm kind of loving the idea of an "online pop up shop", as evidenced here by Ass Savers.



Just as a tweet is to a blog post, so this kind of e-commerce is to the likes of Amazon and ASOS. It's quick, it's of the moment, it's a fleeting thing. And, like a tweet, it relies entirely on fast-paced word of mouth to gain momentum and attract attention.

When Kickstarter firmly announced that it is "not a store", it nonetheless highlighted an emerging behavioural trend for how people want to shop, even if they can't. What Kickstarter's strategy revealed was that people love the thrill of discovering a product or service and then investing in it - both emotionally and financially - within a given time frame. An online pop-up like Ass Savers, however, offers that final hook -  the ability to purchase and that warm, glowy shopping high.



I look forward to watching this unfold as a trend, and smugly tweeting about the latest cool online pop-up. I just hope it involves gourmet burgers/flat whites/cocktails/nordic breakfasts/Opening Ceremony. Fingers crossed.