Businesses everywhere sell customized merchandise that allow their customers, fans and supporters to spread brand awareness out in the world. It's a win-win for any business when your customers show their support financially by purchasing a product that promotes you. In a sense, branded merchandise pays for itself twice.
That being said, with physical doors shuttered around the globe and limitations on space and entry in locations that have reopened, grabbing a tee from your favorite bar isn't as feasible at the moment.
Enter the virtual pop-up shop. It's a way for your customers and community to support you and keep your brand at the forefront, even while they may not be able to show their love in-person. The best part is that, with virtual pop-up shops, you don't need to pre-purchase a stock of merchandise, waiting for it to be purchased. We create what you sell.
That's right.
When we build a virtual pop-up shop for your business, it acts as an online retail presence for your brand, for a limited time. We work with you to choose the merchandise, design and timeframe, create a custom link for your business or organization, then you spread the word. Once your virtual pop-up closes, we tally up the orders and that's how many pieces we make. We can send them all to you or we can take care of the rest, individually shipping orders out to all your adoring fans. Learn more about the process here.
1. Establishing a retail presence while your physical doors may be closed, or foot traffic may be down.
Whether you've always had an entirely web-based business, your doors are temporarily closed or you maintain both a storefront and an e-commerce presence, a virtual pop-up can be an incredibly easy, fun, hands-off solution to drive revenue.
We can print or embroider your logo on nearly any apparel piece or product under the sun, but a pop-up is also a great opportunity to get creative, offering limited edition designs and pieces created and curated for you by our talented in-house graphic design team.
Looking for inspiration? Check our our original business design gallery here or our Pinterest here!
2. Brand awareness and promotion in your community.
If you haven't yet realized the power of promo, let's talk.
Through a virtual pop-up shop, you can sell custom apparel or products to your loyal customers, friends, fans, family and other supporters. Breweries, bars, restaurants, boutique hotels, coffee shops, gyms - you can all make money selling shirts, glasses, mugs and more creative, inventive items that are entirely unique to your industry. Not only will you be getting free promotion, people will actually be paying you to promote your business on your behalf.
3. Setting + crushing fundraising goals.
Virtual pop-up shops can be a simple and exciting way to help your business drive revenue in uncertain times, and in all times, but they can also serve a different purpose: fundraising. This can be fundraising for your business or staff, of course, which is something we've been able to do for a slew of clients and friends. This is also a great way for your business to raise money for a cause that's near and dear to your heart -- or for a nonprofit to raise funds and awareness for their mission.
You may choose to dedicate a portion of proceeds or all funds raised from your virtual pop-up shop sales to a cause that means something to you, like supporting first responders in your community or a national organization that needs your help to keep changing the world. Let's talk about building a fundraising pop-up for you.
Case Study: The Coug
Shortly after COVID-19 turned the world upside down, we started brainstorming ways we could pivot our business to benefit our customers during a really confusing and unprecedented time. As much of what we do is virtual (in order to create a practical and tangible product), expanding our virtual pop-up shop offerings became a clear solution.
When our friends and neighbors at our Pullman HQ, The Coug, had to temporarily close up shop back in March, it hit a little too close to home. Our business was conceptualized at that very bar 9 years ago and it remains a staple in our hearts and our hometown community.
We started talking about ways we could help keep the lights on and, of course, a limited edition tee was front of mind.
The Coug's designer (and former College Hill design intern), Abby, created this beautiful illustrative rendering of the infamous Coug exterior. Our team prepped it for print and worked with the bar's staff to select the perfect tees on which to print it. We settled on one of our go-tos, the comfy and versatile Bella + Canvas tee.
Next, our team built and launched The Coug's virtual pop-up shop, which lived at a customized, unique link that they shared across their networks. The limited edition pop-up shop was live for a little over a week and, in that time, successfully raised over $8K. Every purchase helped support the staff of The Coug and the College Hill community.
To thank patrons and longtime fans, The Coug decided to offer 25% off all orders on Wednesdays in their first month with resumed normal operations. Patrons just have to wear their limited edition Coug tee to get the discount! Adding this type of incentive to your fundraising pop-up is a creative way to say thank you while driving business in the door.
"Hosting a virtual pop-up shop with College Hill for our restaurant & bar, The Coug in Pullman, has been awesome. College Hill provided a solid opportunity for our business to support our staff and be supported by our community. College Hill helped us get our original design on some great looking classic tees quickly, then they built us a pop-up shop that we pushed out to our network. It was fast and efficient, especially given the circumstances. Die-hard Cougs from all over have come in strong with support, buying our tees and helping us raise thousands of dollars. Not only do we all get some great gear from these pop-up shops, we also get to support our local business community when it needs it most. College Hill managed the shop and handled all the shipping, making the process smooth from start to finish."
- Lance Lee, Social Media Manager | The Coug
Looking for a virtual walk-through? Check out an example of one of our pop-up shops here!