#startupspopup – How we’re supporting emerging retailers

Startups.co.uk, in partnership with Sage’s online software Sage One, has opened the doors to its pop-up shop at London’s Old Street underground station.

Exciting retail start-ups Lavolio and miPic will be showcasing their wares at the shop throughout the week.

To help you learn more about the #startupspopup competition and why we want to help shine a light on emerging UK retail businesses, we’ve compiled a quick guide to the #startupspopup campaign, its goals, and information about the two fantastic start-ups that Startups readers voted to put in our pop-up shop.

What is #startupspopup ?

Back in December, following the third annual Small Business Saturday, Startups.co.uk and Sage announced that we would be giving retail start-ups fitting the theme of ‘love’ the chance to open their own pop-up shop in the heart of Old Street station from 8-14 February 2016.

We wanted to give you – our readers – the chance to let a fledgling business test the market with an unrivalled retail opportunity. Whether it was for market research, or to test selling a product via a new channel, our pop-up shop campaign has been designed to give fantastic start-up businesses the chance to get their brand in front of half a million people for free.

Two businesses were chosen to take the retail space and received £750 to kit out their part of the shop for the week, as well as promotion across the Startups.co.uk website, email and social channels.

Why have we set up a pop-up shop in Old Street?

Not only do we want to encourage the nation to shop small – in line with Small Business Saturday – we want to give an incredible retail opportunity to start-ups that could benefit enormously from the exposure and footfall that occupying a central London retail space can provide.

76,000 people enter and exit Old Street Underground station every weekday, and the space is in a prime position directly opposite the turnstiles, which makes it an ideal location for start-ups to get their names out there, meet a large number of prospective customers, and generate fantastic PR.

Who are Lavolio and miPic?

Following thousands of votes from Startups readers, early-stage start-up businesses Lavolio and miPic were selected from six finalists to share the pop-up shop jointly. Not only are they both incredible start-ups which deserve promotion, their offerings tie in perfectly with the Valentine’s theme – indulgent chocolate and confectionery, and gorgeous photo gift ideas.

Lavolio

Our vision is to put love back into confectionery. Our slowly made Lavolio artisan sweets are presented in designer tin boxes, with 30 natural flavours created with nuts, real fruit, chocolate and spices. They are luxuriously indulgent and make the perfect love-filled Valentine gift.
www.lavolio.com

miPic

miPic gives people the power to create amazing print products straight from their phone or sell their pics and earn money for free! Give her your ART this Valentines.

• Use your pics to create amazing ‘unique’ print products for your loved ones.
• Upload and sell your pics to a global audience and earn money for free.
• Choose from beautiful hand-made art, design and fashion products and transform your digital pics into ‘real’ works of art!

mipic.co

For updates and news about the Startups Sage Pop-up Shop competition, follow the Twitter hashtag #startupspopup