Boxpark in Shoreditch opened 3 months ago and it's a very exciting new project. "Boxpark is a retail revolution - the world's first pop-up mall", a statement a copied from their website www.boxpark.co.uk. Boxpark is indeed a very unusual and innovative concept, which I haven't seen anywhere else. Stores moved in containers and will occupy the temporary space for the next 5 years. After that, the area around Shoreditch High Street Station will probably be transformed into office buildings and luxury apartments, as part of "the City's" conquest of Shoreditch and Spitalfields. However, I have never heard of any master plan or project development plan, so that might give Boxpark even a bit more than 5 years...
I visited Boxpark the day before the opening weekend, where most of the stores were already open and finished their last decoration efforts. I checked out most of the stores and asked myself how the concept of the world's first pop-up mall might be financially profitable for the tenants. Boxpark is absolutely cool. It's a mix between independent fashion shops, organic (and also non-organic) food stores and trendy brands like Gola, Vans, Puma, Dockers, Oakley and Nike. However, the space they have in the pop-up mall is very limited. The biggest stores have 3 containers, the smaller ones have only one, where the brands can hardly display any products, otherwise you could not move in there anymore. So I asked myself, how is that possible? The smaller, independent stores are maybe happy with showing a small range of stylish products, but don't the global brands need more space? I always thought in retail you need as much space as possible, since more space means more profit (if the location is right of course). What makes it attractive for Nike to show a few shoes and a few running shirts...?
Yesterday I found out. Nike opened its NIKEiD shop last week and that also opened my eyes. The global brands use Boxpark as a Brandpark. They use the pop-up mall as an opportunity to present and probably also test new trends, products and create their own brand experience worlds out of the containers. Shoreditch has a very high density of innovators and early adopters, so for the Brands this is a perfect opportunity to present themselves to the world's trendsetters and also use it as a brand lab. The NIKEiD shop is an absolutely exciting example. The shop does not have any shoes in there (apart from a few samples), but about 10 Apple computers with TV size screens, comfortable sofas and many design and art books. So what can you do here? You can create your own personalized shoe... The computers allow you to choose a model and then add colors and material the way you would like to have it. The books serve as inspiration. I talked with one of the shop assistants and asked a few critical questions. The system is still rather limited, so you could not create your own patterns or styles. However, the concept will be continuously improved and in the future we might even be able to create our completely individually designed Nike shoe. After you purchased your personalized shoe, it takes up to 4 weeks for delivery. You will receive regular updates via e-mail when it's finished, shipped and due to delivery, so your excitement will even be higher and make your waiting time shorter.
Another cool feature they have in there is one of the world's only two interactive large Nike history touch screens, where you can choose pics and movies, which show you Nike's history and the life of the brand.
After the NIKEiD shop I also visited the "normal" Nike shop, which is on the first floor or let's say in the first container layer. It's also very cool and they had a lot of very new products and styles I haven't seen in other Nike stores. Another shop assistant showed me the new Nike "augmented reality" iPad app, where you can open a shoe box and have a 3D look at the newest model, which was more fancy than useful, but still amazing.
Before I left, I also explored the dancing screen, which recognizes temperature and therefore creates an image of you with green and red bubbles. At the end of your dance you get a code, which allows you to download the movie or share it on Facebook and Twitter. Or share it on your blog...
That's Brand Experience!
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