Luxury brands have brought to Asian customers by way of pop-up shops. Chanel Coco Café in Shanghai and Hermèsmatic in Kyoto are examples of global brands utilizing these types of shops.

 Chanel Coco Café's coffee shop theme saw the brand using tables, bars, tea counters, complimentary desserts and beverages – just like a regular coffee shop. This beauty pop-up had perfumes at the Juice Bar and skincare products at the Bubble Bar with a display of lipstick and makeup products all inspired by sweet desserts. With this, their first pop-up shop, Chanel tried to get closer to the customers with the added result being that they could present an image of being a luxurious yet trendy brand.

 Meanwhile, in Kyoto's historic Gion district back in November 2016, Hermès opened its own pop-up on Hanamikoji Street. The brand's first undertaking used a laundromat-concept, Hermèsmatic, in celebration of the French brand's signature silk squares 80th anniversary. The shop was colored with their signature color, orange, and had special washing machines, which enabled customers to dip-dye their old scarves with a dose of pink or blue dye for a unique and enjoyable hands-on experience while they encountered the brand's history and latest fashion trends.

 This is all part of a trend in marketing strategies to avoid pushing customers into making purchases, and instead set up special concept places that present a more creative, new experience for customers. The key to running successful pop-up shops is that they need to have a fun and friendly atmosphere together with an air of practicality. The importance lies in creating the best experience for the customers that is both trendy and yet stays true to the brand's image and organizational culture, which in turn leads to more brand appeal.

 In Shanghai, Breakup Flower Shop and Orz Cha targeted the younger generations of China, in particular those in their 20s and 30s, with the increasingly popular concept, sang, which loosely refers to negative emotions and a sense of loss.

 When spoken, May 20 is phonetically the same as "Wo ai ni" in Chinese, which means "I love you" in English. Chinese people celebrate this day in a similar fashion to Valentine's Day in addition to the traditional Chinese lovers' day on July 7. However, as these special days turned more into gift-exchanging days specifically for lovers, people started to crave something else. In response to this, Breakup Flower Shop came up with an unusual event of sending message to past lovers on May 20. Their intent was to share the warmth of loving memories, but in actuality, the result was that people sent very angry or offensive messages. Naturally, the event did not turn out as planned. However, it was much to the amusement of both singles and couples in China.

 While Breakup Flower Shop's approach was intended to be positive, Orz Cha took a more direct approach by using the slogan "a cup of negative energy for the day." Their slogan and the messages written on the cups resonated well with the consumers. This marketing strategy is referred to as sang and is growing in popularity in China.

 So, what exactly is sang culture? Well, some say that sang culture represents the younger generations born after 1990 who have lost their hopes and dreams as they face the pressure brought on by living in such a harsh world. This sounds quite negative but the reality is that it is not all doom and gloom. Sang culture is really just a way for the younger generations to self-mockingly express their feelings, and encourage each other as they confront problems and move on. So really, it is all a bit lighthearted.

 These pop-up shops highlight that the purpose of this marketing strategy is to bring in as many customers as possible in a given amount of time. As customers today tend to buy most of their everyday commodities online as the digital technology advances and the online market grows, it is important to provide a new shopping experience which gives more than the traditional offline retail shop can do. Despite shopping more online, customers do however still expect something new. So, as pop-up shops increasingly become more common, companies can use these to reach out to their customers, both old and new, and hopefully fulfill their expectations.