I wandered down to Soho to see the pop-up store of the TikTok famous brand, Cider Fashion. I was curious to see how this ultra-fast fashion brand was going to delight the customer given its popularity.
Let me tell you, the cider wasn’t very strong.
As a merchant, I found the store to be woefully underwhelming.
It was more of a trade show booth than it was a true, brick-and-mortar store. Racks upon racks of lifeless and unsteamed clothes.
Visual merchandising stories were lacking and it would appear that store staff had never worked in a retail store before. I was not approached in the store and when I spoke to store staff, they seemed more clueless than Cher…on Clueless.
If stores are going to make the move from online to offline, the physical space needs to tell a story. Products need to be assorted thoughtfully and the staff need to be product and customer-obsessed. These are non-negotiables.
