In-store retail events may have lost some popularity due to COVID, but they’re still a staple of the retail marketing world.
In-store events are an excellent way to create a community of consumers for your brand, focus on creating connections, and provide brands with an opportunity to promote their products to a broader set of audiences without hard selling. More than75% of marketerssay live in-person, live (hybrid), and online events are valuable.
How do you create a successful in-person event and market it effectively, so it reaches your ideal audience? This guide discusses the benefits of retail events, popular types of retail events, retail store event ideas, how to plan an event for your retail store, and how you can market it.
Table of Contents
What are retail events?
Retail events are in-person events hosted by brands to create a memorable shopping experience for customers.
Customers are getting more selective about the brands they associate with, and thein-store experiencecan help you stand out from the crowd. In an age of cut-throat competition, retail events are a great way to engage with your customers and form relationships. It engages and invites them to experience your brand in person.
3 benefits of in-store events
Hosting an in-store event is expensive and takes a lot of time and manpower. Is it worth it? Here are three benefits of in-store events for your brand.
1. Attract new customers
Post-Covid, shoppers are looking for experiences and are willing to shop in-store rather than behind a screen.59% of consumerssay the ability to feel, touch, and try the product makes shopping in-store preferable to online.
Hosting retail events lets you attract customers outside your normal reach—people who you’ve never targeted with your ads or content. These people have no way of learning about your brand and products otherwise—but the buzz of in-store events can knock on such people’s doors with the right strategy andmarketing.
2. Build brand loyalty
Over40% of consumersfeel they become more loyal to brands after attending their events and experiences.
With events, you can have an intimate conversation with your customers and you can find out what drove them to the event. You learn about your customers and therefore can make better decisions about what products to put out in the future.
We cannot agree more with Kondrat. Say you’re anenvironmentally friendlyclothing brand, and your differentiator is using natural colors to dye your clothes. You might organize an event to demonstrate your process, from extracting the color to making store-ready clothes.
你就像独家提供的信息experience to the attendees. Whenever they think of purchasing such clothes, your store will be at the top of their minds.
GET STARTED:Choose from hundreds of loyalty apps in theShopify App Storeand start rewarding shoppers for purchases they make both online and in-store.
3. Increase sales
In-person interactions also encourage prospective customers to spend—and to spend more. When you host a retail event, people come to your stores without any concrete purchasing plan. With the proper interaction, you can help them choose the right products, resulting in increased sales.91%of consumers say participating in events and experiences convinces them to purchase from the brand.
Grow store sales with Shopify POS
Shopify POS has all the tools to help you convert more store visits into sales and grow revenue. Make more relevant product recommendations, turn abandoned store sales into online sales, and track both store and staff performance from one easy-to-understand back office.
Popular types of in-store retail events
- Launch events
- Classes or workshops
- Meet-ups or hobbyist groups
Retail events are highly personalizable—there is an infinite number of options. Here are the three most popular types of in-store retail events.
Launch events
Launch events are the most popular types of retail events. Anew product launchis an excellent opportunity to build a relationship between suppliers, customers, and producers.
Beauty pop-upBeautyque hosteda launch event for their new pop-up NYC store withDoors. It was a week-long event, featuring its makeup and skincare brand and including a skincare consultation with an esthetician, a makeup tutorial with a pro makeup artist, and a manicure with a professional manicurist.
Such events attract significantfoot traffic, giving consumers the perfect opportunity to interact in person with the brands. They feel like a part of an exclusive club with all the additional benefits it offers.
Invite people to your retail launch event, create a buzz around your new products, and generate sales by forming a relationship with your customers.
Here are examples of retailers who can benefit from launch parties:
- Beauty brands
- Book stores
- Fashion and apparel
- Home and decor
- Health and wellness brands
Classes or workshops
Educational retail events like hosting classes or workshops can set you apart from competitors by positioning you as a thought leader in your niche.
For example, during Fairtrade Month in October 2018,West Elmhosted a workshop series where guests could make coasters using felt balls that fair trade artisans handcrafted at Everest Fashion.
As West Elm was the first home retailer to offer Fair Trade Certified goods, hosting an event series during Fair Trade Month was a great idea. They also donated all of the proceeds from the workshop to Everest to support their Fair Trade initiatives.
Meet-ups or hobbyist groups
Meet-ups or hobbyist groups aim to create both a recurring set of events supporting your industry and a community comprising your target audience.
户外时尚品牌基于“增大化现实”技术c’teryx hostedArc’teryx Academyin 2018. It was a four-day experience that brought outdoor enthusiasts such as mountain guides and professional athletes together through seminars, expert-led clinics, and films.
They offered three experiences—Alpine Climbing, Backcountry Skiing, and Snowboarding. They sent a perfect message to their competitors: if you’re a retail store owner, it doesn’t mean you have to stay within store boundaries.
Retail event ideas
- Partnership events
- Charity events
- Educational events
- Fun events
- VIP events
- 体验式活动
The best retail events offer something valuable to the people attending them. It could be something they learn for the first time, an exclusive launch offer, or something experiential. Here are some event ideas that you could implement for your store.
1. Partnership events
Partnering with other businesses可以是一个双赢的局面,带来额外的曝光和revenue for both parties.
Sephorapartneredwith Dr. Dennis Gross, a world-renowned dermatologist practicing in NYC. At this event, his National Medical Esthetician was there to consult all about the skin and perform an exclusive peel available only in his office.
Sephora had an offer—shoppers spending $150 on DG products get a free goodie bag and a $250 medical-grade peel by our medical aesthetician. This resulted in more foot traffic and increased sales as Dr. Gross’s exclusive peel is among the most famous skincare products.
2. Charity events
Hosting a charity retail event can drive a lot of value and increase your brand awareness. People are emotionally connected with charities, and when you support causes they most believe in, they relate with your brand personally.
Charity retail events are really effective because then you get customers that really care for the cause and maybe new to your brand.
A good example would be Stance, a sock brand thathosted a benefit event where they collaborated with Rihannato design a special collection of socks and tights, with all the proceeds going toward initiatives to make health and education more globally accessible.
3. Educational events
Many retailers are attracting customers with educational learning experiences to attract more people in-store and demonstrate their expertise.
Kendra Scott collaborated with Splashfor an event exclusively for retail marketers to network and learn about the brand’s event strategy. This event was held at their store in New York’s SoHo.
Guests got all the tidbits from the director ofretail marketingabout their in-store event program. Not only did they walk away with rich insights, but they also got to take home a custom jewelry piece.
4. Fun events
Fun events are a fan favorite—people come and engage in fun activities while the retailer benefits from increased foot traffic and a ton of brand awareness.
In 2017, John Lewis launched an in-store event focusing on celebrating the British summer. It was namedNational Treasures, and it featured 220 life-size cartoon displays by Paul Thurlby in storefront windows.
It was fun and interactive with videos, live workshops, fitness sessions, and Q&A sessions with a gardening society-themed rooftop space on London’s famous Oxford Street. The event led to better relationships between John Lewis and its customers.
5. VIP events
If your brand offers a loyalty or insider program, hosting a VIP event for members only can make your customers feel special. As you please them with an exclusive retail event, their relationship with you gets stronger and gives them a reason to come back again.
PINKorganized an exclusive and private shopping event for their PINK Nation members. It was themed after a Back to School Brunch, with early access and discounts on new arrivals both in-store and online.
#PINKNationmembers, come brunch with us on Sunday, August 19th from 10 AM -12 PM in stores + athttps://t.co/tmj6NCHPoA! Score major deals on your fave NEW PINK! Click the link in bio to download the app & get your invite!https://t.co/jh2UCWFj6Ppic.twitter.com/HDJ7G0MxHa
— vspink (@VSPINK)August 17, 2018
GET STARTED:Ready to bring token gated commerce to your store?Shopify’s blockchain partnerswill help you build exclusive customer experiences around your brand with perks, rewards, or other exclusives based on your customers’ NFT purchases.
6.体验式活动
Ads come and go, but experiences stay forever in peoples’ minds. These days retail brands are discovering new and innovative ways to engage with customers.
Chanelmade an impression in New York’s SoHo with its experiential pop-up store Atelier Beauté Chanel in 2019. It was an interactive store that offered guests the chance to try out their collections, get expert skincare and makeup services, and plenty of photo ops.
They also hosted a series of “makeup happy hours” where visitors could book a slot for 20 minutes of one-on-one consultation with a Chanel makeup pro.
Pop-Up Shop Quickstart Guide
Thinking about hosting a Pop-Up Shop? This free guide includes 3 checklists that help frame what you're looking to accomplish through your Pop-Up Shop, different types of Pop-Up Shops, and design ideas to help get you started.
Get your Pop-Up Shop Quickstart Guide delivered right to your inbox.
Almost there: please enter your email below to gain instant access.
We'll also send you updates on new educational guides and success stories from the Shopify newsletter. We hate SPAM and promise to keep your email address safe.
How to plan events for your retail store
- Set goals and budget
- Plan around a theme
- Create a unique experience
- Tie your event to a charity or cause
The best events require end-to-end planning to be successful. Follow these four steps to plan a stellar event.
1. Set goals and budget
Every marketing campaign starts with good planning, and organizing an event is no different. Before you just throw yourself into planning your event, you need to have an end goal for it, for example:
- Generate brand awareness
- Launch a new product
- Generate more sales
- Get media coverage
- 建立更好的客户relationship
- Get social media mentions
- Sell your old inventory
After deciding on the purpose of your event, set numeric values against your goal. Because if you can’t measure it, you can’t track its progress.
For instance, your goal could be to get at least 50 percent of the attendees to mention your event on their social media handles.
The next step is to make a budget. The last thing you want is to overspend on the event and run out of marketing funds. Make a list of everything you’ll need to make this a successful event—inventory, staff, marketing materials, videos, banners, and anything else you can think of.
After your list is ready, take a note of the price of each required item, total it, and add 10-20% to give your budget some flexibility. If you’re looking to decrease expenses, consider partnering up with another brand and splitting the costs of the event.
PRO TIP:Only Shopify POS unifies your online and retail store data into one back office–customer data, inventory, sales, and more. Vieweasy to understand reportsto spot trends faster, capitalize on opportunities, and jumpstart your brand’s growth.
2. Plan around a theme
A theme sums up your event in a couple of words. It helps visitors visualize your in-store event better. Rather than just hosting any event, you can connect it with an occasion or concept.
The Elfridges are in townhttp://t.co/JWowIQ5dpic.twitter.com/eX6qrWxl
— Selfridges (@Selfridges)December 2, 2012
Let’s take a page out of Selfridges’ book. They launched festive events to make their customers feel special with breakfast with Santa, an in-store show, and personal shoppers named‘Elfridges’to assist them with their needs.
You can host similar events around different themes. For instance, a “Winter is Coming” product launch event that ties into Game of Thrones, or maybe a quiz event after a major movie release where the winner gets 90% off their purchases.
3. Create a unique experience
Creating a unique andmemorable experiencethat leaves the guests awestruck is part of the goal of a successful retail event. You need to get creative to stand out from the crowd and think of how you can entice the guests—Under Armour did just that.
We came, you saw, we lifted you up – that’s a wrap on UA HOVR House LA! Next stop: ATX in March#UAHOVRpic.twitter.com/FtD4OnNiHx
— Under Armour News (@UAnews)February 17, 2018
Under Armour(UA) launched their new kicks called the UA HOVR at an LA pop-up experience. These shoes absorb impact and provide energy return to deliver a zero-gravity feel. To give guests this exact feel, UA created a gigantic geodesic dome where its visitors could try out UA HOVR shoes on treadmills.
GET STARTED:Shopify POSis the fastest way to accept in-person payments, sell at events, or open a pop-up shop. Download the Shopify POS app onto any smartphone or tablet and rent a mobile card reader to start selling wherever your customers are.
4. Tie your event to a charity or cause
People care and they love donating to charity—more than56% of Americansdonated to charity last year. Hence, events tied with a charity have a ‘do good and feel good’ element, and customers will want to associate themselves with brands tied up with a good cause.
Remember to keep your charity events simple. You can donate a percentage of your sales to an organization or create a campaign donating a significant sales percentage to the rightful cause.
How to market in-store events
- Social media
- Email lists
- In-store promotion
- Leverage loyalty programs
- Partner with other retailers
Once you have a solid idea of the type of event you want to host, your next step is strategizing how to market the event.
Social media
Harness the power of social media to market your retail event. Add an event to your Facebook page, including the required information for the event.
- When is it happening?
- Where is this event happening?
- Why should they attend?
Post stories on your Instagram, creating awareness for your in-store event. You can also run ads for better visibility.
Sephora collaborated with Dr. Dennis Gross for the Peel Mobile Event. They posted it all over their social handles. For instance, this was a post made from Dr. Gross’s Instagram handle—notice how they create the buzz with a video and precise dates and timings.
Email lists
You want to attract new customers with your retail events, but you cannot forget the loyal customers you already have. Sendemail invitesto your existing customers, including an iCal or Google Calendar invite. This makes your customers’ lives simpler and increases your attendance rates, as the event is on their calendar.
Influencers can help you reach a massive audience without running ads—you can send invitations tolocalinfluencers in your industry if they have an engaged audience and content aligning with your needs.
Bobbi Brownhosted a three-day event in New York City and invited beauty and lifestyle influencers. There were 25 influencers with a collective social media reach of more than25 million. Bobbi Brown expanded this campaign by encouraging their users to share a selfie with their new lipstick for a chance to be featured on their website.
PRO TIP:Want to create beautifully branded emails to promote your next product launch? UseShopify Emailto create, send, and track campaigns, all from within Shopify—no coding experience required.
In-store promotion
Let’s go back to the old school for this. As you already have regular visitors to your store, you can print flyers and banners to highlight your upcoming event.
Whenever a regular customer comes in, you can hand out flyers to them and invite them to your event. There are higher chances they will attend because they’re warm to your brand and an existing customer.
Also, they can bring more people to your event by simply spreading the word amongst friends and family.
Leverage loyalty programs
If you have loyalty or insider programs for your brand, you can gain referrals. To do it, add an extra gift for the members, such as a hamper, exclusive offers, or the chance to be the first to buy a limited collection.
This extra gift can vary according to your industry, but when done right, it can result in more attendees for your store event.
Partner with other retailers
Hosting in-store events can be expensive, but you can ease your burdens by inviting another business to be your partner. But make sure you don’t invite your competitors here. You want brands that complement your business in one way or the other.
Get brands who share your target audience, and you both benefit from a larger audience with less expense.
Examples of in-store events
With numerous brands pulling off in-store events, here are our three favorite picks.
Chanel’s product launch
Chanel knows how to make its customers feel valued and special by offering them a chance to attend a product launch before it goes on general sale. They attracted customers to their Londonpop-up store、专用的n次方ewly launched perfume,Gabrielle. It was the first major fragrance from Chanel in 15 years, focused around an imaginary flower from Olivier Page.
The event started with a graphic film on the life of Chanel; later there was a visit to the ‘wall of flowers,’ where at the press of a little button, the scents of ylang-ylang, jasmine, orange blossom, and tuberose spread into the air.
This experience was very exclusive and limited to very few people. After the experience, each visitor was handed one of the unique goody bags.
Warby Parker’s green room
Retail eyewear storeWarby Parkerhas found innovative ways to stand out from the crowd with unique events. At their LA Melrose Avenue store, they converted one of their empty rooms into a giant green screen—a photo booth experience allowing customers to record short videos with entertaining props and backgrounds.
They dedicated this event to the fact that they were so close to Hollywood and the entire film industry. Their primary goal was to drive people into their store with unique and engaging experiences.
They gave customers a reason to come and encouraged them to share on social media for better exposure.
Westfield’s Christmas grotto
Westfield shopping center in London seized an opportunity on Christmas with aspecial grottofor adults and children. By making their grotto bigger and better than those of other stores, Westfield attracted shoppers that would otherwise have gone to a different retail store.
Young visitors were allowed to enjoy the snow factory at the North Pole where Santa’s elves make all the snow in the world. Children could create their snowflakes and explore other activities in the factory. They could also take a photo with Santa and get their gifts from him.
Such an event resulted in more sales, promotion on social media, and people in their store. You can do something similar if you’re looking for a way to attract people with a unique experience.
Start hosting retail events at your store
Consumers are enjoying in-store shopping now more than ever before. They’re not just looking for better products but a better experience, customer support, and in-store experience.
Retail events are a great way to showcase all of them; it’s a consumer-approved marketing method because they’re fun. You get the chance to form lasting relationships well beyond emails and social media posts.
Turn store traffic into sales
With Shopify’s mobile POS, you can serve customers anywhere in your store and banish lineups at the checkout counter. Use any smartphone or tablet to process returns and exchanges, accept payments, and check out customers wherever they are.
