During six days in October, iZettle helped six of Britain’s smallest businesses open their own flagship store on bustling Oxford Street in the heart of London - for 12 hours each. iZettle captured everything on film, and now, 5 days after releasing it on YouTube, more than 500,000 people have seen it.
One store, with six grand openings and six grand closings in six days on Oxford Street, the busiest shopping street in Britain – an ambitious stunt made to remind entrepreneurs that even global brands that now trade on Oxford Street in London started out as small businesses.
In this brand-obsessed world it’s getting harder and harder to make it. Shopping districts around the world are dominated by big brands. But small business rebels, entrepreneurs and nomadic retailers are fighting hard to bring their products to the world. One of the 12 Hour Store partakers was Gabrielle Schoenenberger’s, and her business Braw Scotland, who creates premium printed home accessories from her studio in Edinburgh. Following her involvement in The 12 Hour Store she experienced roaring sales, breaking record, and even more importantly she had a great time building her brand: “It was an absolutely amazing experience. Seeing a store exclusively selling Braw Scotland designs was just fantastic.” Gabrielle says.
Tom Hardless, founder of Iam Vibes, was also one of the 6 partaking businesses – after the experience he said: "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. The 12 Hour Store didn’t just give me a physical space to trade from, it gave me a huge morale boost.” Iam Vibes business made record breaking sales after participating in the 12 hour store.
Every night a tireless effort was made to transform the store space to match each business giving them everything they needed to compete with the big brands. The iZettle payment solution was the only element that stayed the same. During the six days shoppers had the chance to discover a new, unique and exciting brand each day. And it became a great success. The foot traffic, buzz and response was huge. The six small businesses encountered results beyond their expectations.
Johan Bendz, chief marketing officer at iZettle, comments: “Our mission is to help small businesses think big and grow their businesses – the 12 Hour Store has achieved just that”