Roadshow Success Secrets: How to Optimize Your Product’s Debut on a Coveted Big Box Stage

The opportunity to introduce a product to Costco or Sam’s Club shoppers in the high-profile setting of a “roadshow” – also known as a “pop-up shop” – can be a tremendous boost for your brand.

Roadshows and pop-up shows – self-contained displays often set up in high-visibility areas – provide a flexible and lucrative platform for sampling or demonstrating your product’s value to a large and motivated audience primed to prowl their favorite big box store for great deals and novel offerings. For products previously available only via e-commerce sales, roadshow demonstrations provide valuable feedback and sales data you can use to demonstrate your product’s viability to big box buyers looking for new additions to their inline inventory.

Managing Roadshow Challenges

Roadshow/pop-up campaigns are not a simple undertaking. You are responsible for getting the product in, setting the display up, keeping it stocked and breaking it down at the end. You must keep the show supervised and staffed with sales personnel and make it easy for the retailer to simply book the sales as product crosses the checkout line.

The logistics and labor involved can make roadshow campaigns a more expensive pathway to getting your product online and there is no guarantee of success. While some roadshows occupy prime real estate along the store’s “fence,” store managers have a lot of discretion as to where you will be slotted and it is possible to end up sampling your product from a remote patch of floor across from the paper towels.

The potential for success however, particularly if you follow best practices and take advantage of some experienced support, makes the effort more than worth it.

Benefits of a Big Box Roadshow/Pop-up Store Promotion

Here are just a few of the advantages:

• A road show lets you promote multiple SKUs in a highly visible location as opposed to an in-line test order where you will be limited to one SKU, perhaps in a range of sizes and color options.
• The data and customer feedback you obtain during a roadshow promotion can be highly valuable for establishing credibility with the category buyer; if done well, it is a viable pathway to the store floor and an especially effective way to transition from e-commerce only sales.
• It is an opportunity to introduce your product to tens of thousands of motivated shoppers.
• Roadshows provide more flexibility in your ability to manage and market the introduction of your product: displays can be taller than ordinary floor specifications and the marketing can include, banners, video monitors, hanging racks, pallet skirts and more.

Roadshow/Pop-Up Show Best Practices

So how do you make it happen for your brand without the chaos that often characterizes a poor roadshow effort?

Here are a few key best practices:

• Don’t take on more than you can deliver; it is better to outperform expectations and then stop and regroup than it is to try to play catch-up.
• Before you go into a retailer, model the scenarios, with financials, inventory, throughput, and inventory turns. Run through all of it until you can say, “this is what we can support,” with high confidence.
• Make sure you have smooth alignment from factory floor to display floor, so you don’t find yourself scrambling to restock or apologizing for running short.
• Have more product available than the most optimistic sales forecast.
• Don’t rely on your sales personnel to set up and break down displays; use a reliable third-party vendor.
• Take advantage of the opportunity to go big with marketing.
• Partner with an experienced turnkey provider of retail displays, packaging, fulfillment and logistical support.

Outperform Roadshow Expectations with Support from TPH Global Solutions^®

At TPH Global Solutions, we specialize in making it easy for our clients to deliver successful retail campaigns, including big box roadshow and pop-up show opportunities.

With decades of experience helping brands coordinate and troubleshoot campaigns for warehouse clubs, big box retailers, home improvement, pharmacy and grocery chains, we can help you navigate retailer guidelines with confidence, delivering custom retail packaging, custom retail POP displays, streamlined logistical planning and optimized supply chains.

Contact a member of our team to learn more about how we can help make your roadshow goals a reality.

Learn more about roadshow best practices