Pop-up’s Academic Antecedents

Abstract

The existing academic literature on pop-up retailing is limited, especially in relation to managerial issues concerning its planning and implementation. Whilst there is a practitioner-oriented literature, manifested in what might be termed ‘How to…’ manuals (see Norsig 2011; Thompson 2012), this work is not strongly underpinned by academic theory. The aim of this chapter is to review relevant literature in three areas that could be viewed as theoretical antecedents of a more focused academic inquiry into pop-up retailing. These areas are: retail store environments/atmospherics; customer experience management; and event management. Each is discussed below in terms of how it can inform an understanding of pop-up. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how pop-up activities could be considered as territories (albeit temporary ones) of customer-brand interactions.