Four Innovative Retail Collaborations that Work
Four Innovative Retail Collaborations that
Work...
Content idea from article written by Georgia Wright from Retail Gazette
Brand collaborations are more popular than ever in retail, from beauty and fashion to homewares, as businesses use partnerships to widen their consumer bases.
Popular tie-ups such as Louis Vuitton and Supreme, or Gap and Yeezy may make sense due to their as they both complement each other, some of the latest tie-ups are more eyebrow-raising.
Here are some unusual retail collaborations that you may never have seen coming…
Ebay & Morley’s
A chicken shop is not where you would expect to host a footwear pop-up but in June this year, eBay partnered up with Morley’s, the iconic London-based chicken shop, to open up a temporary store for rare retro trainers!
The store opened it's doors on 18 June 2022 and visitors were given the opportunity to purchase the original versions of sought-after retro shoes at the price they held when the model first launched.
This innovative pairing took place inside Morley’s Brick Lane store, which had been re-fit specially so the walls of shop featured a display of rare trainers, rather than Morley’s infamous chicken wings!
The collaboration may have raised eyebrows but it worked because of the cult following, particularly among Gen Z and millennial shoppers, that unifies both Morley’s chicken shops and retro trainers.
Primark & Greggs
One of the strangest tie-ups of the year was back in February, when Primark teamed up with Greggs to launch a clothing range in homage to the pasty specialist.
Yes you heard right, this innovative pairing was very successful. The highly anticipated 11-piece clothing range sold out almost immediately and featured sliders, underwear, hoodies and a tracksuit and continues to be a feature line in Primark even now.
The unusual pair even opened up a pop-up boutique on Dean Street in London’s Soho ahead of the launch with only 300 slots for those lucky enough to gain entry.
Like the eBay and Morley’s tie-up, Primark has smartly chosen a brand partner that has a cult following and is much-loved by younger shoppers, again aiming at a consumer which is common to them both.
Off-White & Ikea
The Swedish homeware brand is synonymous with cookie-cutter furniture and flat pack storage at purse strings-friendly prices, but in the last few years it has worked hard to align itself with some of the biggest names in fashion.
Luxury streetwear label Off-White and flat-pack furniture specialist Ikea launched a limited-edition UK collection, which saw the Wembley Ikea store take on the signature quotation mark design synonymous with the luxury brand’s CEO and artistic director, the late Virgil Abloh.
The design was used across a range of products, from rugs to bags, and was a huge success, with items selling out instantly and queues forming outside Ikea. Many products from the collaboration were reselling for thousands of pounds more than their original price point.
IKEA’s “KEEP OFF” rug’s resale price is now almost ten times it’s original retail value. At the time of his collection’s release in the US, Abloh told High Snobiety, “No one wants to look exactly like anyone else. It’s like streetwear where everyone styles themselves with their own sensibilities.
Primark & Selfridges
For years, the Primark concessions have been established in the luxury department stores of Selfridges leaving many wondering why.
The collaboration does surprisingly make sense considering that the Weston family, billionaires who owned both retail giants before selling Selfridges to Signa Holding at the end of last year.
Since 2011, when the partnership first started, shoppers heading to Selfridges can leave with their Primark goodies wrapped up inside one of the premium department store iconic yellow shopping bags.
The collaboration not only work due to the shared ownership, but also both brands are seen as places where the fashion-conscious head to pick up the latest styles.
