Pop-ups have become common practice to experiment with brick-and-mortar retail environments, engage with existing communities and attract new consumers. As such, they have become a key place for innovation within beauty retail.
“Pop-ups are fantastic opportunities for brands, even those that are already listed in retail environments, to both activate campaigns in a way that allows more control and creativity than traditional store environments, which can sometimes be slightly more restrictive,” says Fiona Glen, Director of Projects at beauty brand consultancy The Red Tree.
Despite their appeal, pop-ups are very wasteful - every piece of promotional signage, freestanding units and countertops contribute to the industry and worldwide issue of excessive single-use waste.
It’s also at odds with the industry’s push to employ sustainable practices across manufacturing, ingredient sourcing and packaging, to meet the needs of increasingly environmentally-conscious customers. And yet, sustainability in retail design is rarely discussed, instead the onus is on individual products on shelves.
Set build is one of the biggest areas of single-use waste within a pop-up, says Eva Phelan, experiential creative producer at event and design studio Heaps+Stacks.
Their fleeting nature often means merchandising is unable to be reused or repurposed across multiple promotions. “You're creating a custom set or fit out for what might only be a two-day pop up, and that set and build is specific to the venue that you're popping up in, so often it can't be reworked somewhere else after.”
Irrespective of the sector, most stores don't have space to store anything
Glen explains this can also be credited to a lack of storage and manpower, especially for brands who already have flagship stores: “One, it's very rarely exactly the same promotional message and pricing. Two, irrespective of the sector, most stores don't have space to store anything. They don't have manpower from the teams to be sourcing it out - store staff are often really time poor.”
Instead, Phelan explains brands she works with are trying to be more considerate by reducing their ‘waste swag’, aka plastic-heavy, branded merchandise. and have pivoted to offering free coffees or complimentary services as an alternative. She believes these steps are small improvements, but not nearly good enough to tackle the problem head on.
Unsurprisingly, British brand Lush has pioneered sustainable retail design ahead of many of its competitors. Sophie Walker-Walsh, Lush’ Senior Events Manager, shared how important it is for the brand to align its eco-conscious values through its merchandising, as much as the products it sells in stores, even if that means spending more.
“When it comes to the aspect of building anything new for a pop-up or retail activation, our focus is to ensure that the items are robust enough for multiple installations and easy to store, which ends up to be often at a higher expense.”
For Lush, printing is the most wasteful part of hosting a pop-up, she revealed: “We use our internally processed material for all signage boards, which means it meets the criteria to be recycled in-house as part of our Bring it Back Scheme.
"We also tend to handwrite signage, and keep wording as generic as possible to encourage reuse. Our incredible creative production and creative buying teams are always looking for new and innovative materials for us to utilise, such as cork from Portugal or recycled surfaces from manufacturing house Smile Plastics.”
Even across its activations and events within its permanent stores, it works with a list of materials that align with its buying standards for its refits. Additionally, it has a project team whose purpose is to inform customers about Lush’ ethical values.
“The project team is also running regional training sessions to remind shop staff of Lush’s ethics within different areas, such as buying, manufacturing, campaigning and product innovation, so they can be best equipped to communicate those values to customers on the shop floor.”
Other brands have also taken steps to reduce waste across their pop-ups, but overall it’s rare to find. In 2022, Farmacy Beauty debuted its ‘Farmacyland’ temporary installation in NYC’s SoHo neighbourhood. Spanning 1,300 square feet, the set was built with 83% upcycled materials, created in collaboration with art pieces from sustainability designer Zero Waste Daniel.
Brands are under so much pressure to get social content and sales that sustainability is a bottom priority
L’Occitane has also employed eco-friendly measures throughout its travel retail pop-ups, in airports across Europe and the Americas.
Its green roadshow was rolled out in 2022, with a recyclable cardboard tree as a centrepiece, from which customers could pick leaves to reveal complimentary on-the-spot treatments such as a skin diagnosis or hand massage. Each leaf also contained a pack of flower seeds for customers to plant at home.
Implementing sustainable measures across pop-up merchandising is more often than not encouraged by agencies like Heaps+Stacks, as opposed to brands themselves.
“It's sometimes an initial conversation, then it gets pushed to the side. I think brands are under so much pressure to get social content, make sales and reach these KPI's, sustainability is a bottom priority,” says Phelan.
Tight budgets are also a factor, even for larger brands. According to Glen, the shorter the pop-up, the less profitable it can be because of setup costs, but equally the longer it runs, the higher the cost for paying for staff and rent.
Phelan shared that she recently worked with an unnamed big brand and provided the option for recycling merchandise, for a higher cost but one she says “was not a huge increase”.
They opted against it because staying within budget was the bottom line - “I think it's a challenge. It's very, very rare to get a zero-waste pop up or something that's fully sustainable and doesn’t negatively impact the environment.”
It’s a blind spot for customers too. Phelan believes shoppers are clouded by the excitement of a pop-up, such as the potential of scoring freebies, and forget the impact of the retail space on the environment, so apply less pressure to brands to create more sustainable set builds, and therefore, little progress has been made industry-wide.
Walker-Walsh credits it to shoppers not equating experiences to impact, but says they are integral to demanding progress. “I hope as more venues, suppliers and companies are held accountable for their consumption and impact, customers will demand more transparency in this area.”