How Retailers Are Using Events To Connect With Customers

Yesterday, as I was walking through our local mall in Vancouver, Washington, I couldn’t help but notice, retail marketer that I am, the familiar degradation of the shopping mall and the desperate attempt to breathe life back into a tired model. From inexpensive child care options to arcades and second-hand stores, the mall has introduced several new concepts in an effort to find a foothold in the new retail landscape. A vacant store full of possibility uses colorful crafts and fabrics to advertise a shared pop-up space, with the invitation: “Be the retailer of the future.” To my local mall’s credit, pop-ups are an increasingly popular solution for connecting with customers in-person. Events, activations, and pop-ups have claimed a rising percentage of marketing budgets of late. According to a survey by Certain, 70% of marketers earmarked more money for events in 2017. Read more at Forbes.