Despite lockdowns and social distancing measures, 2021 brought some exciting pop-up stores to Asian customers. More than ever luxury brands are investing in pop-ups to generate excitement, drive innovation and newness, test new concepts or bring a sense of exclusivity around new products. With the metaverse being a buzzword in 2021, virtual pop-up stores have been trending this year.
SEE ALSO : Holiday displays not to miss this year across Asia
Retail in Asia rounds up some of this year’s pop-up stores in Asia.
Clarins pop-up, Hong Kong
Clarins’ pop-up Double Power Express store made a stop at the Festival Walk mall in Hong Kong in October. Over 5,400 guests embarked on a journey, exploring the secret behind the Double Serum and the new Double Serum Eye. Moving from the head to the tail of the train, visitors learned about the history, plant science innovation and package design of the powerful duo, surrounded by views of the French countryside.
Valentino pop-up bookstore, Shanghai, China
Marking the seventh stop for the VLogo Signature Vol. II pop-up worldwide, Valentino opened a pop-up art bookshop at the Garden Residence in Shanghai from 1st to 5th December.
The bookstore presents Valentino’s “VLogo Signature Vol. II” art catalog. Supervised by Creative Director Pierpaolo Piccioli, the editorial project presents the iconic Maison in collaboration with 26 international publications. The pop-up store was amplified on Chinese social media with the campaign hashtag #FindV.
Dior pop-up store, Sanya, China
Last Summer, the fashion house Dior opened a pop-up store in the EDITION hotel in Sanya to promote the brand’s Dioriviera vacation series, which includes men’s and women’s wear, children’s wear, accessories, watches, home furnishings, surfboards and other categories. The iconic design of DIOR covered all over the hotel, making customers immerse themselves in the world of DIOR.
Burberry pop-up, Jeju Island, South Korea
In November, fashion house Burberry unveiled the Imagined Landscape pop-up store in Jeju Island, South Korea. The first immersive brand experience in Jeju is connected to a series of inspirational pop-ups across the globe, showcasing Burberry’s latest outerwear silhouettes whilst blurring the lines between nature and technology, the indoors and outdoors, the real and the imagined.
Prada market, Shanghai, China
Fashion brand Prada launched its Fall/Winter 2021 Prada campaign, titled “Feels like Prada” that came to life through a variety of experimental activations during Fall 2021, spanning digital and physical.
In Shanghai, Wuzhong Market, a fruit and vegetable market located in Xuhui District has been transformed by Prada’s touch and enlivened with iconic codes. This unexpected takeover did not go unnoticed by a young audience and quickly went viral.
Ferragamo pop-up store, Hainan, China
Italian luxury brand Salvatore Ferragamo opened a pop-up store at Haitang Bay Duty Free Shopping Centre in Sanya, Hainan, to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. Four chambers with classic Ferragamo print, the “Viva Room”, “Swing Room”, “Metallic Room” and “Floral Room”, represented four product collections. By allowing the visitors to fully explore every facet of the brand, the pop-up store expanded the perceptions of Salvatore Ferragamo through an immersive emotional experience.
Moët & Chandon pop-up store, the Philippines
Moët & Chandon celebrates the holiday season with the launch of its first-ever pop-up store at Greenbelt 3 in the Philippines that opened on 20th November, 2021. The pop-up store features displays of its champagnes and houses a station which enables shoppers to have bottles personalised as a gift for the season.
Dom Pérignon x Lady Gaga pop-up, Macau
Luxury travel retailer DFS Group partnered with vintage Champagne house Dom Pérignon on its first experiential pop-up store at T Galleria by DFS, Macau, City of Dreams.
From 1st to 28th December, the pop-up store invites visitors to experience The Queendom, a multi-sensorial, creative collaboration between Dom Pérignon and Lady Gaga. It features two limited-edition Dom Pérignon x Lady Gaga 2021 bottles and a limited-edition sculpture designed by Lady Gaga, as well as exquisite vintages that the house is known for.
Christian Louboutin pop-up, Indonesia
Early November, Christian Louboutin opened a pop-up store at the Plaza Indonesia shopping mall in Jakarta, Indonesia. Nestled at the heart of the Thamrin Lobby, the 90 square meter boutique presents both men and women collections, and was conceived as an infinity room suffused with the iconic red. Along with the opening, Christian Louboutin also launched its Oiseaux du Paradis collection inspired by the designer’s early years at the Folies Bergères in Paris and the exotic allure of its dancers.
Cartier’s Into the Wild, Hong Kong
In November, the House of Cartier opened an experiential pop-up to celebrate its iconic Panthère at K11 MUSEA in Hong Kong. The woman who inspired it, and the savoir-faire that brought it to life were celebrated in a major experience, Into The Wild, staged at the K11 MUSEA Art & Cultural Centre from 27th October to 14th November.
Chaumet’s “Tiara Dream” exhibition, Beijing, China
French jewellery Maison Chaumet hosted a “Tiara Dream” exhibition in November which was centred around Chaumet’s world-famous tiara masterpieces, including precious antiques and contemporary works, as well as a large number of house archives and manuscripts exhibited to local audiences for the first time.
Chaumet incorporated holographic projections and interactive installations while launching a virtual showroom on WeChat that featured interactive programs for users to personalise their journeys.
Coach concept store, Singapore
To mark its 80th birthday, American luxury house Coach opened a pop-up store in Singapore in August. Dubbed ‘Tomorrow’s Vintage’, the Singapore concept shop was located at 1 Teck Lim Road, in the Kreta Ayer district. The store served as both a slice of Coach history and a pop-up store for shoppers and was a first for Coach in Singapore in terms of store style and offering.
NBA x Hennessy, Hong Kong
To celebrate their partnership and to present the newly launched Hennessy V.S.O.P NBA 21/22 Limited Edition, Hennessy and NBA transformed the Ocean Terminal Deck at Harbour City in Hong Kong into a basketball court in November.
The brands invited everyone to dive into the basketball heat. Participants could even enjoy Hennessy x NBA cocktails while cheering for their favourite teams.
Miss Dior pop-up, Tokyo, Japan
To commemorate the launch of the new Miss Dior fragrance, Christian Dior opened a new Miss Dior pop-up store and hosted an art exhibition in Tokyo, Japan in September.
Visitors could discover a unique Miss Dior pop-up store, Miss Dior Millefiori Garden, for a complete immersion in the floral universe of the new Miss Dior Eau de Parfum. Alongside a limited make-up line, the haute-couture “Millefiori” dress, created by Maria Grazia Chiuri, and worn by Natalie Portman in the new Miss Dior film campaign, was also displayed in the store.
Net-A-Porter pop-up, Hong Kong
In September, Net-A-Porter unveiled a ‘pink’ pop-up store featuring a curated selection, including wardrobe essentials, exclusive designs and key must-haves across fashion, jewellery, beauty, homeware and lifestyle from leading brands. To offer an unconventional event experience, guests could place their palm over a high-tech scanning device when they checked-in.
As part of the digitally powered experience, NET-A-PORTER also invited guests to access the ‘Secret Room’, where the digital art installation Waterfall – Sands by a’strict, an acclaimed collaborative media artist unit from Korea, was located.
SK-II pop-up, Sanya, China
Augmented reality and gamified skincare experiences came together with a purpose at global skincare brand SK-II’s first ever “Social Retail” pop-up store at Haitang Bay Duty Free Shopping Centre in Hainan, China in May. It was inspired by #ChangeDestiny – SK-II’s brand purpose – and ‘VS’ the new six-part animated anthology series by SK-II STUDIO, the brand’s first film studio and content hub that is dedicated to tackling social pressures that women face.
Swatch pop-up, Macau
In January, the Swiss watchmaker opened an art-themed pop-up store at Galaxy Hotel in Macau to support young local artists. The pop-up store offered a unique customised service where customers could choose from one of the canvases from six young local artists as a base for their watch. Customers could also customise the colour, indexes and the mechanism and have a personal 15-charatcer message applied on the back of the dial.
Tudor pop-up, Hong Kong
Early December, watchmaker Tudor invited celebrities, KOLs, media and wholesalers to its exhibition “Seven Decades of TUDOR Professional Diving Watches”. Since the 1950s and TUDOR’s creation of one of the first modern professional divers’ watches to the 1980s, the brand has been a regular supplier to the Marine Nationale (French Navy).
To celebrate this historic collaboration, the brand presented a technical watch that meets a unique set of specifications developed for underwater navigation in conjunction with the French Navy’s combat swimmers, the Commando Hubert.
Hear x See The Everlasting Echo” – Qeelin x CDF x Wormhole Cloudscape Thematic Exhibition, Haikou, China
In October, Qeelin together with China Duty Free Group, presented an exhibition at Cloudscape in Haikou, China. This event took place at Haikou Wormhole Library, a landmark architecture in Haikou, connecting art and innovation. On the lake surface outside the library, the Qeelin Wulu was just extending out, with gourd windmills and exquisite light boxes while the white Bo Bo was waiting for the visitors in different spaces.
Moncler Mondogenius digital experience
In September, Moncler Genius broke down borders to unite and connect people around the world with MONDOGENIUS, a digital experience into the culture of Moncler that took global communities on a journey through five cities, sharing the creative visions of 11 designers, all under one show.
Taking viewers from Milan to Shanghai, Tokyo to Seoul, then to New York and back again, Alicia Keys threw the gates wide open so everyone could become a part of the MONDOGENIUS story.
Lancôme Stronger Than Ever virtual pop-up
Luxury beauty brand, Lancôme announced the launch of their newest digital retail experience in Singapore – the Lancôme Génifique #StrongerEveryday Virtual Flagship in October. Boasting features including hyper-personalised product recommendations, an immersive e-commerce platform and an opportunity for visitors to empower other women simply by registering for a customised sampling kit, the Virtual Flagship marked the debut of Lancôme’s first-ever official e-boutique in Singapore.
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Charlotte Tilbury holiday-themed virtual store
This November, makeup brand Charlotte Tilbury launched a holiday-themed virtual store, Charlotte’s Virtual Beauty Gifting Wonderland. In partnership with Obsess, an experiential e-commerce platform, the virtual reality experience includes a Shop with Friends function, which allows visitors to navigate the virtual store in a group and talk in real time to discover the brand’s latest holiday product offerings.