Amazon will be launching a programme, which will help small online businesses grow by bringing them to the high street in the form of pop-up stores. Amazon partnered with small business support group Enterprise Nation, Direct Line for Business and Square to create the programme, which is appropriately called Clicks and Mortar, which will see more than 100 small online brands given the opportunity to reach customers on the high street for the first time through 10 brick-and-mortar pop-up stores.
The first pop-up store will be opening today on St Mary’s Gate in central Manchester. Which will be followed by the opening of pop-up stores in Wales, Scotland, the Midlands, Yorkshire and across the South East. The year-long pilot programme aims to highlight the benefits of combining in-store and online retail, and an independent research consultant commissioned to produce an analysis of the impact of the pilot will submit findings to the Government following the call for new ideas to inform the Future High Streets strategy.
