Porsche Now Pop-Up Stores Aim To Reinvent The Dealership

Pop Up

In a world where fewer and fewer people are going to physical dealerships to buy cars, it's fair to wonder if we'll see a big shift toward online purchasing in the future. Heck, it's already happening, as more automakers - including Porsche - are making it easier to purchase vehicles without leaving the couch. The next step in this process is a new concept called Porsche Now, which consists of pop-up stores located in high-end urban shopping environments.

Photos: Porsche

Reinventing the Process

Porsche has opened a total of 11 Now pop-up stores and six Porsche Studios across the globe in the past year as it refines its futuristic concept. The idea is to create a destination for interested consumers to check out these cars in a more digital and boutique-like setting, reinventing the car-buying process at the same time.

Photos: Porsche

Coming Soon

In total, 17 Porsche Studios and more than 20 Porsche Now sales pop-ups have been set up in 23 countries to date, creating new points of contact with the brand. And the network is set to become even bigger, with current plans to have overall more than 25 Porsche Studios in high-footfall top city locations by 2023. One example of this will be the opening of a Porsche Studio in Portland, Oregon, in the spring of 2022 – the first in North America.

Photos: Porsche

Reaching Customers

"With the urban sales formats, we have sought and found new ways to reach customers," said Marco Kana, Director Sales Retail at Porsche. "Whether it is a Porsche Studio or one of our Porsche Now sales pop-ups, these innovative formats offer easy access to the brand and are ideally suited to developing contact opportunities with new target groups. We will continue to develop these innovative retail formats over the coming years."

Photos: Porsche

Future Retail Strategy

As part of its Future Retail strategy, Porsche is aiming to reach out to new, younger target groups, as well as its existing customers. The basic idea behind this is to bring the product offering to the customers and not the other way around. With the trend towards urbanization, city centers are becoming more and more important. But these two sales concepts are not the only strategy Porsche is using to generate greater customer proximity - the same can be said of its new Porsche Satellite Center, Porsche Approved & Service Center, and Porsche Service Factory.

Photos: Porsche

Popping Up

While the Porsche Studios are permanent installations, the Porsche Now sales pop-ups are only in place for a limited time. Along with the cars on show, fans and customers can also experience the Porsche Drivers Selection, see the offerings from Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur and use the virtual reality apps and private configuration lounge. In summer 2021, the island of Jeju, in South Korea, and Zurich, in Switzerland, played host to Porsche Now pop-ups. The "Now" element of the name is all about making the most of the moment. The format was launched in 2018 on the La Mer beachfront in Dubai.

Photos: Porsche

On the Move

Porsche's Now pop-ups aim to change the way people interact with vehicles, going where its customers might be as well as capitalizing on the "fear of missing out" by showing off its wares only for a limited time. Whether or not this is an effective strategy remains to be seen, but it's clear that the traditional dealership as we know is changing.

Photos: Porsche

>>Join the conversation about Porsche pop-up stores right here at Rennlist.com.

>>For help with your do-it-yourself maintenance and repair projects, please visit our how-to section.