After several years of rapid growth, U.K.-based online shoe brand Vivaia is turning to pop-ups to help grow its footprint.
Over the past year, Vivaia has tested out physical retail in three countries. In the spring, it opened shops-within-shops in five Japanese department stores: Isetan, JR Takashimaya, Sogo, Matsuya Ginza and Keio. In September, it launched an eight-month pop-up in Singapore. In October, it opened its first pop-up in the United States in New York City. And in November, it opened its second U.S. pop-up in one of its most popular cities, Los Angeles. While the New York pop-up has since ended, the Los Angeles pop-up carries on until Dec. 31.
Initially, Vivaia was “very single-minded” in focusing on its online business, the brand’s general manager Howard Herman told Modern Retail. It sells in 61 countries and regions via its website and has amassed more than 1 million customers to date, according to the company. In addition to its DTC site, the company sells on Amazon and recently ventured into wholesale with Nordstrom. Overall, Vivaia’s business has more than doubled over the past year, inspiring its executives to try selling items in physical retail. Now that it’s opened temporary locations, Vivaia is setting its sights on permanent stores in Japan and Singapore and in U.S. states such as New York, California, Florida, Texas and Washington over the next several years.
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