Festival commerce thrives as pop-ups set to make £1.2bn this summer

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Jul 5, 2019

Britons are expected to spend £1.2 billion at festival pop-up stalls this summer, and while food and drink are top on the list of priorities for festival-goers, fashion and experiences are also proving highly popular.

According to research released by Barclaycard into the spending habits of UK festival-goers, the average attendee spends £67 a day on food, fashion, merchandise and testing out experiences on-site.

And with 37% of festival fans saying they prefer to shop on-site rather than online or the high street, merchants are expecting to see their revenues increase by 12% over the next five years.

So it seems that fashion retailers stand to benefit from having a presence at live events, as 31% of festival-goers consider festivals a better place to uncover new trends. And to capitalise on this, many merchants see festivals as fertile ground to trial new products and ideas, with 50% testing products that they have later rolled out online or in-store.

Additionally, brands can choose to interact with consumers in a different way by hosting more experienced-based offerings, such as yoga classes and skills-based workshops. In the next two to three years, 66% of merchants plan to offer more experiences and 52% more fashion and homeware, the report revealed.

“Pop-up commerce is thriving across the UK festival scene, as brands compete to provide the ultimate fan experience. With more ways to engage audiences alongside demand for a deeper connection to the products they try and buy, festivals are becoming a fertile ground for all kinds of businesses to grow,” said Daniel Mathieson, head of sponsorship at Barclaycard.

“In recent years we’ve also seen festivals start to offer dedicated event spaces to brands while providing activations on-site has also become increasingly popular. As festival spending looks set to rise, my advice to UK businesses is to explore the sales and marketing opportunities the UK live entertainment scene presents, or risk losing out to more savvy competitors.”