The Apple Watch shop in Selfridges on Oxford Street shows there is life yet in the pop-up as a novel form of retail.

So how about this for an idea? Why not set up a shop in which shoppers can inspect your wares − you might even give them the chance to play with the merchandise a little bit − and then deny them the right to walk out of your emporium with a purchase?

You’ve paid all that money to fit a place out and you may have parted with a fair amount to get the space, so why on earth would you want people to part with money when they come into the shop?

Yet that was the apparent modus operandi in Selfridges last week where Apple had installed an Apple Watch shop ahead of the product becoming available on April 24.

The idea was in fact simple. Potential watch buyers could wander into a dedicated space at the southwest end of Selfridges on Oxford Street, look at range of Apple Watches that would become available and then place an order.

High-profile showcase

The goal was pretty much the same as that surrounding any efficient product launch − create demand by fostering a sense of scarcity and by offering the chance to become part of a select club of ahead-of-the-pack owners.

And in fairness to Apple and Selfridges, a good stab had been made at designing a space that would set the latest ‘must-have’ apart from the rest of the store. With trees in pots and a long table on which the watches are displayed, this was a winsome piece of temporary retail.

“For the biggest brands the pop-up is a high-profile way of providing a showcase”

John Ryan

This is actually what branded pop-up stores are fast becoming. There are still plenty where the objective may be to shift merchandise, but for the biggest brands, where new product launches are one of the central elements to keep brand devotees shopping, the pop-up is a high-profile way of providing a showcase.

For Selfridges this equates to increased footfall, while for Apple it is an alternative to unveiling a new product in an Apple store.

There have been quite a few observers lately who have opined that the pop-up in 2015 is a cynical piece of shopper manipulation and that the agitprop rough-and-ready nature of the format’s origins have become lost.

Possibly so, but the reality may be that pop-ups have become slicker and indeed better funded and are now judged on the products they show as much as the spaces themselves. The pop-up remains relevant and there is no reason to suppose it will disappear any time soon.