Pop-up shops can serve multiple purposes, from testing the waters of a new geography to giving digital brands a venue for meeting shoppers face to face. For Anthropologie, pop-ups function as a feedback loop with its loyal customer base, reflecting and amplifying key consumer trends.
“One of the things we’ve learned [about doing pop-ups] is that you really need to tap into what your customer is already asking for,” said Elizabeth Preis, Global Chief Marketing Officer at Anthropologie in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. Referring to its latest pop-up, Anthro Saloon, “we’ve seen a major surge in all things cowboy-related. We have an amazing core customer base that gives us a lot of insight about what they’re interested in, and we’ve seen a lot more interest via online search, engagement and transactions across Western and cowboy gear and clothing products.”
For Anthropologie’s Holiday House pop-up in October 2023, the brand partnered with another trend barometer, Pinterest, transforming a historic Brooklyn brownstone with six curated holiday concepts and a series of events. The results were strong, with all 750 available appointments booked within 24 hours, more than 40 styling appointments conducted and more than 550 million impressions generated online.
The Anthro Fruit Stand pop-ups, at The Grove in Los Angeles and NYC’s Union Square in May 2024, demonstrated another key Anthropologie strategy: linking IRL experiences with its stores and digital presence. Using on-site QR codes, Anthropologie boosted category-specific DTC item sales at the installations, and also facilitated customer acquisition efforts via registration for the brand’s AnthroPerks loyalty program. Additionally, the real-world pop-ups were amplified with a virtual Fruit Stand on the Anthropologie website.
Anthropologie uses a number of metrics to gauge the success of its pop-ups, including measuring QR code usage and tracking impressions. “It’s also about how many people liked the posts, how many shared them, how many influencers posted about it — especially those that didn’t need to share about it,” said Preis.
Some of the benefits are less tangible but no less important. “I started with the company four years ago, and it’s constantly amazed me that customers consistently say Anthropologie is their happy place,” said Preis. “We want to extend that happy place into a moment outside the store, website or app; we want to extend the excitement and experience of the brand in a new and different way.”
