What is the role of pop-up stores in a multichannel environment?

Abstract: Title: What is the role of pop-up stores in a multichannel environment? A study on understanding how pop-up stores affect the experience that customers receive and the relationship they share with retail brands. Supervisor: Ulf Elg Examiner: Ulf Johansson Thesis purpose: The present study aims to investigate the role of the pop-up stores of retailers on the customer experience in a multichannel environment and how this addition can affect the existing relationships between the customers and the retail brands who operate this type of retail stores. Methodology: Social constructionism is the view that has been adopted for the present research, with relativism being the approach that has been selected to gain a greater understanding of the experiences and beliefs of the interviewees through the meanings of their responses. For that reason, the research method that has been selected is qualitative research. Theoretical Perspective: The present research has been based on the theory of the consumer-brand relationship, with some adaptations being made to its implementation. We aimed to identify differences in the relationships between the consumers who interacted only with regular channels of a retailer who did not. The differences in the relationships proposed by this theory would indicate how the addition of this new channel has affected the relationship between consumers and brands. Empirical Data: The empirical data for the present research have been collected through in-depth interviews with the respondents of our research being asked questions that belong to the same themes in order for the data to be comparable. The interviews were semi-structured and adapted when necessary to divert from the primary lines set to catch the different approaches of the participants. Conclusions: Our research found that the addition of the pop-ups as a new channel, even though its ephemeral, has an impact on the experience of the customers with the majority of them, neglecting its ephemeral character and giving it a new role that expends one of the regular physical channels of the retailer for the coverage of more basic needs, regularly, for as long the store would remain open. Another thing that has been revealed is that the pop-ups were seen as an expansion of the already existing offering, something that was a result of its novel character, premium location and size that has been seen as something positive by the customers who as it has been seen experienced a shift in their relationship with that specific brand towards a more committed and stronger one.