The pop-up store ― a temporary retail site designed for flash sales ― is an innovative and lucrative strategy for leveraging high-profile, transitory events such as conventions, festivals and rallies.
J&P Cycles, a motorcycle parts and accessories retailer, extended its retail brand with a pop-up strategy implemented during the recent Sturgis Motorcycle Rally ― an annual week-long event bringing hundreds of thousands of target customers into one location.
J&P Cycles supported the rally’s surge of inventory and distribution demand with several solutions from Manhattan Associates. Using the Manhattan SCALE (Supply Chain Architected for Logistics Execution) product suite, the retailer maintained every-day business and order fulfillment across channels while building and satisfying inventory ― more than 7,000 additional items specifically for the Sturgis rally ― in a very smooth and timely manner, according to Zach Parham, General Manager of J&P Cycles.
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“Manhattan SCALE helped us get inventory to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in a very efficient manner, and with less manpower,” Parham told Retail TouchPoints. “While three large tractor trailers of products were prepared for shipping to the event, we could continue business as usual, without a blip in product availability and distribution for our regular channel customers.”
Manhattan SCALE is a portfolio of distribution and transportation management solutions built on Microsoft .Net technology. It helps retailers complete and track inventory and orders, access reporting, optimize labor management, and assign carriers and route guides, among other day-to-day tasks.
The J&P Cycles pop-up store featured a 10,000-square-foot showroom for the 7,000 motorcycle parts and accessories, including tires, engine components, seats and products. J&P Cycles prepared for the show by shipping inventory to South Dakota on July 22, and started taking orders by August 1, Parham reported.
Following the completion of the show on August 12, “we did tear-down within two days,” Parham explained, “came home and transferred back into normal order phases within the Manhattan Associates platform.”
Attending rallies is a core asset to the J&P Cycles business model, Parham explained. While the retailer has participated in motorcycle shows for approximately 14 years, he said, “supply chain logistics are far more efficient with an automated distribution and transportation solution.”
“J&P Cycles executed very innovative, strategic thinking with a ‘pop-up’ supply chain philosophy to support its customers right at Sturgis, where demand is at its highest,” said Eddie Capel, President and COO of Manhattan Associates, in a press release. “Manhattan SCALE is uniquely suited to support the needs of a temporary retail location, giving a retailer like J&P Cycles the benefit of a storefront with a real time and accurate inventory, without the overhead investment in manual labor it would cost otherwise.”
