Influencer brands on their way to stationary trade

• #How To
• #Influencer
• #Social Media

Can influencer brands also establish themselves in stationary retail?

The variety of products offered by influencers is growing all the time. More and more influencers are launching their own products and marketing them via their social media channels. Over time, they naturally ask themselves to what extent these products will also appeal to brick-and-mortar retailers.

What are the advantages of exclusively online marketing?

The biggest advantage of online marketing is probably the target group. The bloggers have become known online and for the most part only present themselves there.
They have built up their community and thus already gained a group of potential customers for their products, which at the same time also reflects the target group.
Some of our exclusive bloggers have also already founded companies and market their products in an online store and via Instagram.

Distributors in brick-and-mortar retail often have high barriers to entry, which is why it could be a high risk for startups to initially offer their products directly in brick-and-mortar retail. Online retailing has become increasingly popular in recent years and is also being used more and more frequently to be able to get hold of one’s favorite products quickly and easily. Society, in addition to the increasingly stressful everyday life, does not want to give up shopping and be able to order conveniently from home. Especially the younger generation, which grows up with social media and is to be addressed with the influencer products, is a fan of ordering online and thus being able to decide in the familiar environment in peace.

Online marketing will likely continue to rise and should definitely be at the top of the list for new businesses to generate long-term success.

And what advantages does stationary retail offer?

In stationary retailing, the aspect of personality and authenticity is more present than ever. Seller and consumer are face to face, the goods can be tried out and touched, and someone is always available to answer questions.
After the purchase, the customer holds the product directly in his hands and does not have to wait another 1-3 business days for his order.
In addition, there are walk-in customers at every corner in the stationary trade. This means that a new target group can be tapped that might not have become aware of the product online.

Many people place a great deal of importance on precisely these aspects and prefer to use retail to become fully aware of the purchase decision.

Also for this reason, some of our exclusive bloggers have opened together for the Christmas season a pop-up store in Cologne and try to push their products in the stationary trade.

What are the concrete steps on the way to stationary trade?
Find sales partner

The first and probably most important step on the way to stationary retail is to search for and find a suitable sales partner. Here, a company should primarily pay attention to being able to address its target group in order to reach suitable customers.

Start test run

Before deciding to sell a large quantity of its products in stationary retail, a test run is a good idea. This test run could take the form of a promotion, for example as a stand in an already established retail store or as a pop-up store for a certain period of time to see whether and to what extent the products find stationary appeal.

Find the right quantity calculation

Of course, stationary trade must be analyzed and decided individually from product to product. But should this come into question, the right quantity calculation must be found. After a test run, the company has already received a rough estimate of how their products are received and how much sales were achieved during this time.

In order to avoid being stuck with very high quantities, it is therefore advisable to first plan for a realistic quantity and, for example, to agree on just-in-time delivery or a purchase on call with the supplier.

Can influencer brands succeed in brick-and-mortar retail?

On the whole, it can be said that influencer products definitely have a chance of establishing themselves in stationary retail. But the extent to which this will be successful or less successful must always be considered individually.
The strategy behind the product and the brand is important here. In addition, a company should always keep an eye on the competitive behavior and analyze whether similar products are already represented in many forms in retail.

The demand as well as the competition should therefore be analyzed in detail in any case. In addition, it is important to make the decision dependent on the respective target group and accordingly see whether the target group is interested in buying the products at retail.

If the target group is present and the competitive behavior can be estimated to be low, it is quite possible for influencer products to establish themselves in stationary retail.

The target group and the demand for products in stationary trade are also present with the team of our pop-up store, which is why the decision was made to go into stationary trade with their products.

Pop-up store by Tates, die.organizer, die.Pinsel, Timbalini, Cali and Friends and Milux

Some of our exclusive bloggers, in collaboration with lookfamed, decided to open a pop-up store during the Christmas season and offer for the first time all their products in brick-and-mortar stores for a certain period of time.

Especially now at Christmas, the demand for influencer products is high and this time offers the best opportunity to try out yourself and the products in stores.

Since many of the bloggers’ followers come from Cologne and the surrounding area, Cologne is the appropriate city to implement the store. This time also offers the opportunity to meet and talk to customers and followers in person and to build and strengthen customer loyalty. The brand should be positioned and further developed and become a permanent fixture in stationary retail for the first time!

After the team from die.Kim GmbH participated in three weekends at the Peek & Cloppenburg Special Days in September and successfully sold their organizers at a stand in a P&C store, this was a decisive point for the opening of the pop-up store. Followers want to get in touch with their favorite influencers and meet them in person, which is why they want to support their idols in the stationary retail project.

Our team of the pop-up store has completely personally and in own work taken care of the renovation, putting away, decorating and much more and is also personally represented in the store with the respective influencers. So far, this action has been successfully received and everyone is excited about what is still to come in the next few weeks!