This is a sponsored post. All opinions are, as always, 100% mine.
In honor of Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, I thought I’d share a really cool story of how iZettle helped six of Britain’s smallest businesses open their own flagship store in London – for 12 hours each.
In this brand-obsessed world, it’s getting harder and harder to make it. iZettle’s goal was to remind entrepreneurs that even the most recognizable big-name global companies started out as small businesses. So, because iZettle is all about supporting the little guys and gals, they did something that’s never been done before.
They invited half a dozen of Britain’s smallest businesses — Boskke, Braw Scotland, Fox and Belle, Bluebird Tea Co, Iam Vibes and British Christmas Jumpers — to open their own store on Oxford Street, Britain’s busiest shopping street, for 12 hours.
One store, with six grand openings and six grand closings in six days. Take a look:
How awesome is that?! I would have checked out the new stores every single day. You can see the videos of each individual store here.
Every night, the store space was transformed to match each specific business, providing them with everything they needed to compete with the big brands. The iZettle payment solution was the one constant in every store.
Over the course of six days, shoppers were able to discover a new, unique and exciting brand each day. And it was a great success. The foot traffic, buzz and response was huge. The six small businesses encountered results beyond their expectations.
“Taking part in iZettle’s 12 Hour Store was a dream come true, and I will never forget the 12 hours of magic and fun I had,” said Tom Hardless, founder of Iam Vibes. “The 12 Hour Store didn’t just give me a physical space to trade from; it gave me a huge morale boost.”
Iam Vibes experienced record-breaking sales after participating in the 12 Hour Store.
iZettle believes “big things start small.” They build game-changing payment services and apps which make it easier to run a small business on a tablet or smartphone, and accept card payments wherever you are.
Empowered by iZettle, look for these small businesses to continue to grow and to one day have their own stores on Oxford Street — for more than 12 hours.
I have been in every single store on Oxford St. multiple times and would’ve loved to have caught the 12 hour promotion. I had no idea! How cool is that? Goes to show you that there ARE some super-creative ideas in the world, after all.
Forget Long Island. Forget San Diego. I think, Lady Lolo, you are really a Brit and you never told me. Yes!
I love this post and the idea of this kind of promotion. Kudos all around.
Next time you go to the UK Flat Me will be real me and we’ll shop at all of them!
That would have been a fun event. It would be neat to see the different products from different stores. Someone should put together some events like that in the US.
How fun and cool — and unique! — is that? I’d have loved to visit each one of the six. Heck, I’d just plain love to visit London.
Okay, that is a brilliant idea!!! I wish I had been there! I would have been there every day!
Missing London just looking at that photo. What a clever idea!
Anglophile! Love it. Can I use this in the US as an international user, which I presume means non-EU?
So cool and a one of a kind series of events! And the idea that “big things start small” is so right on point. So glad to see creativity in business practices!
I am a big fan of anything that makes running a small business easier. I think one of the things that confound small businesses, outside of the whole “getting their name out there” thing, is, of course, the bookkeeping aspect of it all. Some folks are better at creativity and fail where the business stuff is concerned. This company seems to have figured out how to give small businesses a leg up — and not just for 12 hours!
Wow, that is so cool! I think anything we can do to help support small local businesses is a great thing!
I would love to go to London.
Always has been a dream of mine actually.
My ancestors came from somewhere in England would love to go and see where!
Great way for iZettle to pay it forward. I definitely would have visited each shop. I prefer small business shopping.
That’s a really interesting concept. Would be interesting to see the revenue number to see how they all did.
I love innovative ways to get people to participate–and this–does exactly that. Like the others, I would love to go back to London, it will probably be a while though. Very interesting post and I am with you, I would have wanted to check out every single one as well.
What a cool idea! It almost makes me wish I lived in London!
What a cool concept. WE have small business Saturday where I live but nothing like this.
Very cool! Hope to one day visit London, but who knows! It sure looks great. This is a very cool idea!
So cool! Sounds like great promotion for these stores. I have been to London a few time but never to Oxford st. Something to look forward to for my next trip
Very cool. So innovative. Would love iZettle to do a follow-up on how this impacted these businesses.
what a fabulous idea! I would love to attend and event like this
I love the building, wish we had one here. A clever way to stand out as a small business.
That is awesome. I would have loved to go to all of them.
That’s one of the most genius marketing ideas I’ve heard about. I would most definitely go every day!
That is beyond a cool concept! I so wish I could have checked it out!
How awesome for the businesses, and for the customers too. I think it’s an awesome concept.
That’s amazing that they redesign the store every night. What a fun store to visit every day to shop for something new.
This sounds cool. Sounds a lot like our Small Business Saturday!
These pop up shops seem to be be becoming really popular – I think it’s a cool way to showcase never brands 🙂 x
This looks like great. I’m sure they will get great results. I have a friend that I think is close to there. I’ll have to let her know.
Sounds like an amazing opportunity. What a clever way to learn about and support new brands.
It’s so important to support small businesses in our communities. They are pillars of where we live.
I love this interesting idea. I love the words ‘big things start small’ and its 100% true. I always encourage people who are supporting small business. 12 Hour store is really an great concept indeed.
Wow. That is such a great idea. Showcasing these smaller brands is perfect step up.
That was very innovative. I’ve never heard of izettle though. Will check them out online/.
This is really cool! I’ll def have to check this place out 🙂