Like clockwork, the season of temporary retail, in the form of pop-up stores, is here.

Spirit Halloween is opening more than 1,550 seasonal stores across North America this year.  Other retailers are doing the same thing on a smaller scale. Hallmark plans a limited-time holiday pop-up at Disney Springs. Kinokuniya opened a downtown San Francisco pop-up Sept. 18 that will operate through late December, while Uncommon Goods is opening holiday shops at Macy’s and the Grand Central Holiday Fair.

There’s a commonality here, as each location needs payment terminals configured, merchandise entered into inventory systems, employee permissions activated and transaction records preserved, even though most of those locations will disappear.

Opening the doors is only part of the job. A temporary location has to become visible to the retailer’s existing commerce systems quickly enough to justify a selling season measured in weeks or months.

Prices and promotions have to reach the POS. Inventory sent to the store has to remain visible elsewhere. Payment acceptance has to match what customers use at permanent locations. A purchase may need to appear in an existing customer account or loyalty program. Returns can arrive after the temporary store has closed.

Inventory provides one of the clearest examples of the infrastructure required to add a temporary store.

A retailer can send merchandise to a pop-up in a matter of days. If moving those products into the new location removes them from the retailer’s digital view of inventory, however, the store has created a hole in an operation customers expect to work across channels.

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