‘Rent a pop-up shop’ platform Putiandi bags $13m investment

The funds raised will be used to optimize the overall experience when navigating Putiandi's platform for short-term commercial rentals, and further leverage the huge databases that store the information on the availability of commercial space, helping businesses that are in the process of socializing their brands by conducting innovative pop-up marketing campaigns in the new era of retail, said Yi Zongyuan, co-founder of Putiandi.

A pop-up bookstore in downtown Shanghai on November 6, 2017. [Photo: VCG]

Putiandi, established in September 2015, is based in Shanghai and has branches in Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Suzhou, with business in more than 40 cities throughout China. The company has inked strategic partnerships with nearly 3,000 shopping malls.

Putiandi's main focus is its pop-up site rental platform, which accesses the short-term availability of commercial space on the thousands of databases maintained by shopping malls and retail space operators, and makes that space available to businesses looking for opportunities to promote their brand. The space, which can be anywhere in China's many shopping malls and plazas and can be leased by the day, the week or the month, allows brand marketers to launch pop-up events so that they can sell their products, develop customer leads, promote their brand or conduct market research.

The platform also offers management of WeChat-based stores, helping integrate both online and offline experiences and builds a "pop-up store" model fully optimized for the new retail era.

Mr. Yi, the Putiandi co-founder, said, it does not matter whether it is a Fortune Global 500 company, a leading Chinese brand or an emerging startup, we are in golden era of innovations where every startup and every brand can realize its own dream. They are all pursuing their dream and Putiandi hopes to partner with them, aiming to make their dream come true.

Putiandi already has almost 1,000 strategic brand partners, including BMW, Bosch Home Appliances, Dyson, Electrolux, Mercedes-Benz, Nestle, Philips, Siemens and Wrigley, among other leading global brands, as well as China's leading internet players, including Baidu Map, Baozun.com, Dianping.com, JD.com, Lily & Beauty and Xiaomi, in addition to a large number of startups based all over the world. With advanced Big Data technology, Putiandi recommends the most appropriate locations at each shopping mall given the attributes of the particular campaign. The various strategies described above lead to the brands benefiting from a roughly 30 percent discount on the going market rate.