'Grocery buying, however make it enjoyable': How Pop Up Grocer is fueling product discovery

As grocers look to step up product discovery and make their aisles of packaged goods less drab, a pop-up retailer is showcasing a couple of methods to shake up the grocery buying expertise.

Pop Up Grocer goals to make its short-term areas — and soon-to-open everlasting retailer in New York City — locations for product discovery of dry and refrigerated packaged meals in tiny storefronts that includes vibrant colours, selfie mirrors and disco ball comfortable hours. 

“Grocery shopping but make it…not ugly,” Pop Up Grocer’s first TikTookay video states, in a problem to conventional grocers. The video features a slideshow of nondescript grocery aisles with brilliant lights and excessive cabinets earlier than slicing to Pop Up Grocer’s white and purple striped awning and colourful model packaging on its cabinets. 

Since its founding in 2019, Pop Up Grocer has had eight activations in a number of cities throughout the U.S., together with New York City, Miami, Chicago and Venice Beach, California. Most lately, it arrange store from May 6 to June 5 within the stylish NoMa neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Each pop-up location has between 120-150 manufacturers, that are largely meals and beverage but additionally embrace pet, physique care and generally residence care in areas which might be roughly 1,000 sq. ft. 

Pop Up Grocer founder and CEO Emily Schildt, a former model publicist, has seen firsthand not solely the innovation taking place within the meals house but additionally how meals influencers and types can work collectively to create buzz. 

“In the last few years [we] have positioned ourselves as an influencer retailer,” she mentioned in an interview.

Sourcing technique 

Hope and Sesame’s sesame milk. Alcohol-free purposeful spirits made by bonbuz. Victory Dance Foods’ line of “juiced granola” made with complete uncooked contemporary fruit and veggies.

These are simply a number of the gadgets among the many 400 merchandise from 120 manufacturers on the location that was open in Washington, D.C. 

Shoppers at Pop Up Grocer areas can look forward to finding better-for-you merchandise and types with founders who’re ladies, folks of shade or a part of the LGBTQ+ neighborhood. That’s intentional, Schildt mentioned, and stems from Pop Up Grocer’s sourcing standards that seeks out manufacturers which might be fascinating, deal with accountable sourcing and have “attractive” packaging. 

At the NoMa retailer, about 54% of the manufacturers had been women-owned, 25% had been BIPOC– and queer-owned and eight% had been native, Schildt told local news site DCist. 

“We’re really creativity-first and health as a by-product of that,” Schildt mentioned, noting that Pop Up Grocer is targeted on inclusivity and locations an “emphasis on underrepresented and under-resourced founders.”

When it involves discovering manufacturers, Pop Up Grocer does analysis on-line, scours Instagram and faucets into its community of present and former manufacturers, traders and different stakeholders for referrals, Schildt mentioned, noting that “a lot” of manufacturers are reaching out to Pop Up Grocer because it turns into extra well-known.

A majority of manufacturers Pop Up Grocer works with are online-only. Some have already made it onto the cabinets of main retailers — Hope and Sesame, for instance, has placement with Sprouts Farmers Market — and are leveraging Pop Up Grocer to enter new markets. A minority are distributed nationally, Schildt mentioned.

By following a 30-day retail mannequin, Pop Up Grocer has averted the provision chain points plaguing the grocery business. “Our inventory needs are pretty limited,” Schildt mentioned. 

Along with offering manufacturers with long-sought shelf house, Pop Up Grocer can also be serving to them develop and refine their enterprise. The Pop Up Grocer Fund provides 5% of in-store gross sales from every pop-up location to an rising CPG model. Earlier this month, Pop Up Grocer despatched an e-mail to its publication subscribers on behalf of a model in search of suggestions on refreshed packaging choices. 

Assortment varies from location to location, and greatest sellers are likely to range by market, like spicy merchandise in Miami and popcorn in Washington, D.C., Schildt mentioned. 

Pop Up Grocer intentionally consists of extra recognizable manufacturers equivalent to cereal model Magic Spoon or snack maker LesserEvil to assist enhance belief amongst customers in its sourcing credibility.

Schildt described Pop Up Grocer’s typical prospects as early adopters: “[They’re] people who are very conscious about the things they put in and on their body. They’re looking for the newest items. They probably consider themselves informers within their networks as to what products people should be looking for.”

She continued: “Our stamp of approval — the fact that we have these guiding criteria [for sourcing] — makes their jobs somewhat easier, too, because, as we all know, there’s so many products. Consumers and buyers [for retailers] alike are looking for some sort of filter to help them make good choices.”

Taking a inventive strategy to retail

At 6 p.m. every day, the lights went down and the samples got here out for Disco Happy Hour on the location in Washington, D.C. At one comfortable hour, customers received to sip Swoon’s Zero Sugar Peach Iced Tea samples whereas shopping the shop as purple dots of sunshine sparkled across the merchandise. 

Pop Up Grocer additionally has positioned selfie mirrors in its areas to up the Instagram-worthiness of the expertise and has enticed prospects to make a number of visits with an in-store sport known as PUGko, which prospects can play day by day to attempt to win prizes. 

Along with Disco Happy Hour, Pop Up Grocer has held occasions like cocktail mixers after its regular working hours. To have a good time Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May, it held an occasion for customers to check out “products with authentic flavors” from Asian-owned manufacturers, together with Phil’s Finest, Pan’s Mushroom Jerky and Sanzo. 

For individuals who weren’t capable of make the occasions or need to relive the experiences, Pop Up Grocer’s TikTookay account chronicles the enjoyable. 

Even with out the occasions and video games, Pop Up Grocer leans into creating an Instagram-worthy journey. Like its prior areas, the Washington retailer was brimming with eye-catching meals packaging, colourful shelving and buying baskets, and neon indicators. The pop-up in Venice Beach, California, in early 2020 had a living room and lounge area. 

Customers on the NoMa retailer may store cabinets labeled breakfast + bars, puff, crunch, sweets + treats, boosters + blends, and bites + chews.

“I think when people are just having fun, they might be a bit more open-minded to try something new,” Schildt mentioned.

Pop Up Grocer has one other pop-up deliberate for the autumn in a to-be-announced location and is planning to open a everlasting retailer in Manhattan. Schildt previously told Thrillist that the everlasting location can have room for talks, tastings, demos and a restaurant. 

“It’ll just be a long-standing, reliable destination for New Yorkers and tourists to visit that will still constantly be rotating our inventory and introducing new brands,” she mentioned. 

As grocers look to up the ante on their in-store expertise, some have examined choices centered on making buying extra enjoyable with issues equivalent to game rooms and augmented reality. Others, like Hy-Vee, are leaning into the comfort of bundling their grocery assortment with non-food gadgets and providers like exercise equipment and nail salons.

To promote product discovery, many are leveraging shelf tags and icons to call out particular attributes to prospects, whereas on-line, personalization and shoppable content linked with recipes are connecting manufacturers to customers. Late final yr, Whole Foods Market bought for a restricted time a $30 “discovery box” with gadgets reflecting every of its 10 anticipated traits for 2022.

Grocers take notice, although: Creative merchandising is only one a part of the product discovery equation. Schildt mentioned customers may have shopper training on what merchandise are and the best way to use them, like adaptogens and nootropics, in an effort to totally interact with them.

“[We had] a sample of a nut butter spread and people asked how to use it. … Even early adopters will come up to the register and look at me and just stare and not understand what it is that they’re purchasing,” Schildt famous.

It all ties again to Pop Up Grocer’s mission: “Grocery shopping, but make it fun.”