Pop-up shop displays are where art direction and retail meet. The best pop-up shop display ideas include striking visual elements that put your products at the center and set the tone for an engaging experience.
Pop-up shops can play a dual role in your marketing strategy. They allow you to do real-time research and observe how shoppers experience your branding and products in person. “You get a ton of feedback just by seeing people interact with your products in your own pop-up,” Sergio Takke, founder of Dossier, says on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast. Observations from pop-ups have informed everything from Dossier product development to store layouts.
Read on to learn how pop-up displays work and how to develop your own.
What is a pop-up shop display?
A pop-up shop display is the visual layout and signage used to sell products in a temporary retail space. These displays draw customers into pop-up stores by integrating your brand identity with unique artworks, product arrangements, and sensory experiences.
Pop-ups have a limited window to make an impression. By design, they’re temporary installations where brands can test new markets, collaborate with a new designer, build awareness with experiential marketing, or celebrate a holiday. They boost revenue and build brand buzz without requiring a long-term commitment to a particular physical space.
To attract potential customers walking by, pop-ups have displays that appeal to them in creative ways. Design teams use elements like focal displays, lighting, set pieces, and striking color palettes to draw attention and give visitors an experience worth sharing.
Pop-up shop display examples
Use these real-world examples of pop-up displays to inspire your own:
Fishwife Snack Bar + Shop
The tinned fish brand Fishwife hosted a weekend-long snack bar in New York City in partnership with Capital One. Both the store’s front facade and the product display shelves were royal blue, drawing the eye while functioning as a base to help the illustrations pop and the products inside stand out.
The centerpiece display used motifs from Fishwife’s packaging and included a maritime scene of boats, fish, mermaids, and sailors. This created a focal point that embodied Fishwife’s whimsical branding while also drawing attention to the products for sale.
Sonsie Garden
Sonsie is a skincare brand that did an NYC garden party pop-up in collaboration with Shopify. The idea was to recreate Cofounder Pamela Anderson’s rose garden, which had long been an inspiration for the brand’s fragrances and spirit of self-acceptance. “We needed to announce our Shopify pop-up and thought: What if we brought the garden to life in New York City?” says CEO Kailey Bradt on an episode of Shopify Masters.
To do so, the Sonsie team decorated an urban retail space with plants, shrubs, vines, and roses, and served vibrant, green matcha drinks. Products were displayed in off-white packaging atop dark, stained, wooden fixtures. They included framed, illustrated guides to the Sonsie Garden collection; those interested in purchasing had all the product information without it feeling like a sales push.
Flamingo Estate pop-up store
Flamingo Estate, a candle and scent brand, had a Los Angeles pop-up store that combined elements of their packaging and signature ingredients. They hung bundles of herbs from the ceiling and color-drenched the walls in teal to match the product packaging. The mix of the monochromatic aesthetic and fresh, herbal smells created an immersive experience.
Best practices for designing a pop-up shop display
- Create an ephemeral, unique experience
- Present your product in a captivating way
- Embrace your brand’s community
- Lean into your location
Tiffany Langenbacher is a luxury retail strategist with expertise in visual merchandising. She draws on her experience with brands like Barneys, TSUM, and Loro Piana to inspire pop-up display ideas. Here are some best practices for designing your own pop-up shop display based on advice from Tiffany:
Create an ephemeral, unique experience
Make the most of a pop-up’s limited-time nature to present an experience your brand normally doesn’t offer. Set the expectation that it’s an event your audience is unlikely to experience again, whether it’s a jewel-toned Valentine’s Day mixer or your brand’s first birthday party.
“When I worked at Barneys, pop-ups were a big part of our experience in-store,” Tiffany says. “What I loved was that it was ultra-immersive. It felt like a fleeting moment where you have to go to Barney’s this month because you’ll never see this or experience this again.”
Use unique touches like custom artwork, oversized set pieces, and exclusive merchandise to make your pop-up feel like a once-in-a-lifetime event.
Present your product in a captivating way
Recalling a pop-up at Barneys featuring fashion designer Rick Owens, Tiffany explains how the clothes were displayed in a way that resembled an art installation as opposed to a showroom.
“The production team would be working with Rick Owens’ team, and they would create an immersive world,” she says. “The customer would be drawn in through a window, walk in, and see these giant hovering figures that felt more like sculptures versus mannequins.”
Pop-ups present an opportunity to display your products in a way that goes beyond what you might do in a conventional retail space. In grocery stores, Fishwife’s tins are placed right beside all of the other canned fish for sale, but for their pop-up, they built an entire bar around their brand. For your own products, think about how to bring them to life as opposed to simply showing people what they look like.
Embrace your brand’s community
Tiffany uses a music analogy to explain how a brand’s community comes together for pop-ups. “You can have the same venue, but you have all these different artists that play in it,” she says. “You’re not going to have the same people coming back because the venue is so great. They’re coming because of the artist they want to see."
Tiffany highlights the value in designing a pop-up experience that resonates with your established audience. Your fans are your community, and your pop-up should celebrate them. Create a pop-up display that matches their tastes and draws on the qualities they appreciate most about your brand.
Lean into your location
Use seasonality and setting to your advantage to build a sense of urgency and scarcity. “With pop-ups, you have to think about not only where you are, but also the seasonality,” Tiffany says. “You’re not going to do a yurt pop-up in Aspen during the summer, because people associate Aspen with ski culture. There’s a look and a feel and an expectation for that space and that community at that time.”
The Sonsie Garden is an example of a pop-up that follows this advice. Their display presents a garden experience emblematic of Sonsie’s ethos with an elegance that matches New York’s SoHo neighborhood. With mid-October being the end of tomato season in the region, the tomatoes piled in a wheelbarrow add an informed example of attention to detail. Draw inspiration both geographically and seasonally when drafting your own pop-up display ideas.
Pop-up shop display ideas FAQ
How do you design a pop-up shop?
To design a pop-up shop, brainstorm unique ways to create a space that embodies your brand identity, displays your products prominently, and creates a sense of urgency for customers. Engage the senses with striking colors, fragrances, and lighting. Use interactive elements like performances, product demonstrations, or tastings to create an experience as opposed to a temporary storefront.
What makes a successful pop-up display?
A successful pop-up display embraces the temporary nature of the event. It is bold and engaging and may take risks that aren’t sustainable for long-term retail spaces. Maximalist incorporation of brand colors, unique use of a space’s floor plan, and eye-catching visual elements contribute to a successful pop-up display.
How can I make my pop-up shop stand out?
To make your pop-up shop stand out, consider giving away a merch item that will never be available anywhere else, getting a live band to play, or collaborating with a local restaurant and serving a dish that is exclusive to your pop-up. Imagine you’re throwing a party for your brand, and you want your guests to tell everyone they know about it.
