AGA Digital Magazine

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“the model creates the potential for consumers to be so excited about the in-store experience that they then go back online to share about it.”

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the experience economy Pop Up Grocer is also a natural fit as the economy becomes more experience-driven. “This model is something we need to rediscover with food, in this digicentric world,” says entrepreneur Will Rosenzweig. “So much about food is our live interaction with individual products.” Rosenzweig has a lifetime of experience watching brands launch into the marketplace. As an entrepreneur, investor and advisor to entrepreneurs through his work at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, Rosenzweig can identify a good idea when he sees one. For him, the concept of Pop Up Grocer harkens back to when he was the founder and first CEO of The Republic of Tea. To make impressions on consumers, he would stand in front of grocery stores and Macy’s serving tea. “Especially for the early part of a product launch, the Pop Up Grocer concept may provide a new path to consumer exposure that doesn’t necessarily exist otherwise,”

Rosenzweig also explores questions about the long-term strategy for Pop Up Grocer: How far will people actually drive to visit? It’s an unusual time given Covid-19 and various workers’ issues. Is the initial success sustainable? How will Pop Up Grocer produce a long-term competitive advantage? If the model gains ground, how will large retailers respond? He does, however, nod to the concept as being inherently fun, “like theater.” The question Rosenzweig poses about how retailers could respond will be tied into the bandwidth large corporate retailers have to be proactive. “So many business choices in 2020 were reactively made in order to handle the pandemic,” he says.

says Rosenzweig. “People are often so busy that they aren’t going into the grocery store and really spending time reading about the products.” Pop Up Grocer is helping bridge shoppers from a digital realm into an in-person experiential realm. Indeed, the model creates the potential for consumers to be so excited about the in-store experience that they then go back online to share about it. According to Rosenzweig, Pop Up Grocer also bypasses the very real vulnerabilities many small brands faced in 2020 and into 2021, with their reliance on co-packers. There has been such a proliferation of small direct-to-consumer companies that have small runs and face abundant challenges in scaling up and meeting demand. The pop-up model inherently avoids the fall out of this problem, avoiding the empty shelves seen at large retailers when enough inventory can’t be secured. Schildt herself recognizes that Pop Up Grocer does not offer space for long-term sales in a reliable way.

“It’s wonderful that Pop Up Grocer is off to the races,” says Rosenzweig. “But remember, it takes 15 years to become an overnight success.” ■

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