Dive Brief:
- Snap, coming off its initial public offering of stock last week, opened a second pop-up Spectacles shop in Venice, Los Angeles, TechCrunch reports. The shop is located near Snap's L.A. headquarters. Spectacles, the company's first hardware offering, are camera-equipped sunglasses that record video to be posted to Snapchat. They retail for $130.
- The first Spectacles pop-up opened in New York City on Nov. 21, 2016, and closed a few weeks ago on Feb. 20. Snap said the new, L.A.-based store will be open for the next several weeks, according to TechCrunch.
- When Spectacles first launched, they were only available via limited, branded vending machine kiosks or "bots," but Snap is now selling the device online in the U.S. as well. The in-store experience is Spartan, with customers buying the glasses via the kiosks rather than from salespeople.
Dive Insight:
Snap renting different pop-up locations for such a limited time is an interesting, presumably costly business practice, to say the least, especially now that Spectacles are widely available for sale online. A commenter over at TechCrunch noted that the in-store component might allow Snap to capture tangible foot traffic or even people lining up for Spectacles, proving that there's buzz for the hardware product to investors who are eager to see the company show its value post-IPO.
When Snap first announced Spectacles in the fall last year, CEO Evan Spiegel referred to them as a "toy." That, combined with the initial limited rollout through vending machine bots, suggested the wearable might be more of a novelty than anything. However, as Snap has greatly expanded the availability of Spectacles — and as it hammers home the idea of being a "camera company" — hardware might be becoming a greater focus.
An expansion of the Spectacles business might stem, not only from popularity with consumers, but also with brands, who have been more often tapping the device to create behind-the-scenes, off-the-cuff content for their Snapchat followers.
In January, L’Oréal Paris outfitted a celebrity make-up artist and two brand ambassadors with Spectacles to give viewers a sneak peek at the Golden Globes red carpet. Last month, Toyota gave 100 media and lifestyle influencers Spectacles for a London event, and Hyatt provided its employees the device to share their workday as an integral part of its new "World of Hyatt" brand platform.
