Being primarily an online business, our customers rarely get the opportunity to try our products before they purchase like you would with a traditional retail experience. While most people are confident purchasing online nowadays, our customer base is largely made up of the 25-50yr old bracket. With the latter being a more trepidatious generation when it comes to online shopping.
So whilst our business is booming online there is still something special about being able to offer our customers the opportunity to not only test our products out tangibly, but it is also incredibly meaningful to invite customers into our Basics by B world. To meet Bonnie, to feel the energy and magic of the brand, and to welcome in new customers.
Back in late 2022 we had a pop-up shop in Sydney's CBD for 3 months which was a fantastic taster for the retail space. But since then we have been busy focusing on growing our brand presence online, expanding our product offering and developing more cosmetics which has seen a revenue increase of 1000% in the last twelve months.
But with a high percentage of our Australian customers being Melbourne based we decided to create a retail experience for them this time. So that brings us to our Melbourne Pop-Up Shop.
Located on the world famous shopping strip of Chapel Street South Yarra we created a welcoming Basics by B space for 1 week in May. We had followers and existing customers come and say hi and shop up a storm, we met loads of new faces who had never heard of the brand before but found themselves hooked on our products (hello Body Glow!) and we hosted makeup workshops with Bonnie teaching every day women how to create a fresh modern makeup look.
Like any good experience, it didn't come without its stresses! Our stock didn't arrive until opening day with courier companies seemingly not knowing its location and being non committal about their ability to deliver. And after a fun opening night event Bonnie's phone got stolen and we never saw it again, which caused a lot of angst with much of the business being accessible through Bonnie's phone.
But despite those little glitches, everything else went perfectly and we're so thrilled with the result. It was a week to remember! Thank you to every friend who supported us, every customer that visited and to the beautiful staff who brought the ultimate makeup girl energy.
It has inspired us to search for our next pop-up location, or perhaps something a little more permanent!
stay tuned...
