The Kerbholz Pop-Up Shop Berlin
by Katja Feldmeier
The four guys from Kerbholz are returning pop-up enthusiasts. Their newest pop-up shop in Berlin Mitte with Go—PopUp is in fact their fourth. After previously popping up in Cologne, Vienna and Berlin Friedrichshain, they will be occupying a cozy and minimalist space in Mitte, Berlin’s hippest shopping area with streets full of designer stores. Their six-week-short pop-up functions as an offline retail test lab, a business card and a playing ground for their young brand. One of Kerbholz’ founders, Nils Niendieker shared his reasons, why the pop-up is the perfect tool for an up and coming brand concept like Kerbholz.
»A pop-up shop is the perfect tool to showcase our products and to be present as a brand. Not to forget that it works as a huge marketing campaign, creating attention and broadening our reach.«
Nils, Kerbholz is popping up in Berlin for the second time now. Why do you need a pop-up store as an online retailer?
Thats right, our first Berlin pop-up store was located in Friedrichshain and now we are testing the waters in Mitte. We think that a pop-up shop is the perfect tool to showcase our products and be present as a brand on the retail market. Not to forget, that it works as a huge marketing campaign, creating attention and broadening our reach. Moreover, we can use it as sort of a test run, if we ever decide to open a permanent store, which is a returning idea in our heads.
Why is it important to be present on the market in a physical store? Your online presence seems very strong.
Because people need to be able to touch the product. We want to show our products in person, stretching beyond our online reach. That’s why we also travel to trade shows and use other offline retailers. The pop-up store is a perfect addition to this retail portfolio, an additional channel, so to speak.
Will the product range in the pop-up store vary from your online shop?
Definitely. We are about to launch some new product lines for shades and also optical glasses. The pop-up will be the space for our product launch. The new lines will be exclusively available at the pop-up store, before being also sold online.
Are you anticipating that people will shop your products at the store or rather later return to the online shop to make a purchase?
Both. At the store, we can immediately measure, what the turnover is and how successful the pop-up was in terms of hard sales numbers. But then, there is also a slightly more fluid approach for looking at the pop-up’s success. You cannot underestimate the reach and buzz that a pop-up can create. We believe that, by being on the market with a physical store, we can expand our reach to new customers, who might not make a purchase at the store at first, but will later return to the online store, keeping the brand at the back of their minds or tell a friend. The offline store generates online traffic.
»You cannot underestimate the reach and buzz that a pop-up can create. We believe that by being on the market with a physical store, we can expand our reach to new customers, who might not make a purchase at the store at first, but will later return to the online store, keeping the brand at the back of their minds or tell a friend. The offline store generates online traffic.«
What are your pop-up goals? Is it all about reaching new customers, testing products or test running your own physical store?
Primarily, we are looking to get in touch with our customers, to get a better sense of what they like and don’t like. In a store, it is much easier to get honest feedback and a feeling for customer’s needs. This kind of thing is next to impossible online. Just think of, how often you have ever filled out a feedback form online, apart from the cases where something went terribly wrong. In the pop-up shop we can observe and read customer’s first reactions, chat to them and learn from those experiences.
Moritz, Matthias, Adrian and Nils founded Kerbholz in 2012 in their home town Cologne, after being inspired by wood handicrafts in Mexico. Reinterpreting this traditional and beautiful raw material, they decided to rejuvenate its dusty image by creating modern and sleek designs for watches and sunglasses. But beyond looking incredibly cool, the guys worked hard to make Kerbholz products sustainable. For each purpose the brand plants a tree to stop deforestation.
Where to find the Kerbholz pop-up:
Kerbholz pop-up store
Münzstraße 11, 10178 Berlin
Open: Monday – Saturday 11 am – 8 pm until 31.03.16
If you also looking for a pop-up place in Mitte, check out this space here. How about directly at Rosenthaler Platz or a space with an extraordinary store design? Also, have you met Ingo? The landlord who has a special place in our heart.
