What supermarkets can learn from streetwear drop culture to build hype

When Hailey Bieber debuted her $20 Strawberry Skin Glaze smoothie in LA grocer Erewhon, it was a cultural moment. Launched in late 2023, the  bevvy inspired equal parts fanaticism (40,000 smoothies were reportedly sold per month) and cynicism (mostly due to the steep price tag).

It was the latest in a long line of launches that proved younger shoppers don’t just buy products, they chase moments. Those experiences are bringing them into bricks & mortar stores. As many 65% of Gen Z expect high street visits to offer something they can’t get online, found Amex’s Retail 2050 study, released last month.

“There are two kinds of retail goods: the things you plan to buy and the things you never knew you wanted”

The streetwear sector has excelled in this experiential element. Every season, brands stage product ‘drops’ and exciting celebrity ‘collabs’.  Yet outside of the Bieber-Erewhon smoothie, there are few examples of grocery following suit. Outside of a handful of flagship stores, shopfloors are functional and fluorescent. Any wow factor usually comes from supplier activations rather than the retailer’s own handiwork.

So, what can grocery retailers learn from streetwear and clothing brands? What works and what doesn’t? And how can retailers measure effectiveness?

Clothing brands are often masters in staging their own scarcity, hype and urgency. “Streetwear and high-fashion collaborators perfected not just clever marketing – it’s a psychological and economic masterstroke,” says Elliot McFarlane, head of retail operations & in-store experience at Jack Wolfskin.

“Scarcity triggers ‘FOMO’ [fear of missing out], hype turns a T-shirt into cultural membership, and countdowns create a win-or-lose window. Commercially, they manufacture demand first and ration supply, driving near-100% sell-through while the secondary market does the marketing.”

The playbook for a ‘drop’ tends to follow a similar pattern: tease to build intent; drop in a tight window; restock once; retire on schedule. In grocery, this might entail running a short preview via a loyalty app that targets a specific locale, naming the store, plus the date and even the bay, and signalling there will be one restock.

“Delivery windows and go-live moments are sequenced down to the hour. Hype should be scheduled, not spontaneous”

Used sparingly, a ‘hyped’ drop that fits the category and doesn’t clog up the shopfloor can bring huge positive energy. There is a word of caution, though. Done badly, it delivers out-of-stocks, blocked flow and noisy disappointment.

For a masterclass in building hype well, look no further than Erewhon. The cult organic retailer treats the store itself as the hero SKU, says Sean Pool, its former head of data and analytics. Its modus operandi involves a ruthless edit of SKUs and a membership that goes beyond discounts to offer exclusive offers, recipes, notifications about upcoming drops and more. That works alongside one calendar that binds together internal operations, merchandising and marketing.

Erewhon is perhaps best known for smoothie collabs with celebrities like Bieber, as well as rapper Travis Scott and actor Shay Mitchell, among others. They generate celebrity-driven, organic visibility that’s part of a strategy to make the store the centrepiece. According to Vogue Business: “Erewhon is more than just a grocery store – it’s a status symbol.”

But it’s not just about pricey smoothies. Just last month, Erewhon teamed up with activewear giant Lululemon to launch a limited-edition clothing collection. Early access was offered to Lululemon members via Erewhon’s app on 14 October – a rare example of a fashion brand piggybacking on a grocery store’s drop culture, rather than the other way around.

Generally, though, few sectors run product theatre with the discipline of performance sportswear. “At Adidas, every collection follows a tightly choreographed go-to-market process,” explains Alex Melekhin, who leads the global centralised content adaptation model at Adidas.

“Each launch begins months in advance. As the activation phase approaches, campaign assets, in-store visuals and digital storytelling are finalised together to ensure the customer journey feels seamless from social post to shelf. Delivery windows, store floor sets and go-live moments are sequenced down to the hour. The key lesson: hype should be scheduled, not spontaneous.”

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While such moments are often reserved for flagships, it’s possible to achieve similar outcomes in smaller stores, too. Drawing on 14 years of launching Adidas flagships globally, McFarlane says the key is to “create a ‘temporary flagship’ moment”.

For him, it is possible to apply that lesson to grocery. “Use the centre aisle not for pallets of baked beans, but for a weekly surprise drop. Think a limited-run local honey, a nearby brewery collaboration or exclusive merch. Create the hunt, create urgency and create a reason for Gen Z to visit on a Tuesday by turning a sleepy utility into a stage for discovery,” he advises.

McFarlane feels most supermarkets lack cultural currency and a credible “third space” feel – “they’re transactional, not destinations”. Aside from using the centre aisle as a weekly drop zone, he suggests creating small, photogenic demos at weekends and adding community tables for short, hostable moments. These additions will not disrupt the weekly shop, but they might just give customers a reason to come back for the experience as much as the essentials.

Psychologists have long shown that scarcity heightens perceived value. In grocery, that means replacing “In stores now!” with “Lands Friday! Gondola end 3. Limited run only. Next restock Wednesday.”

Discounter drop culture

For Aldi and Lidl shoppers, these tactics will sound familiar. The discounters have long used the middle aisle, limited runs and collabs to generate buzz.

In 2021, Lidl dropped £12.99 logo trainers that sold out within hours and appeared on resale sites at a significant mark-up. Last year, the Lidl x Nikolas Bentel croissant handbags sold out in under two minutes online, before a further drop drew queues at a London Fashion Week pop-up.

Aldi’s Specialbuys have the same effect. Online, the Gardenline hanging egg chair generated virtual queues in the hundreds of thousands with hour-one sellouts. Meanwhile, Kevin the Carrot toys regularly prompt pre-opening lines.

“Use the central aisle not for pallets of beans but for a weekly surprise product drop”

For Rory Sutherland, vice chairman at Ogilvy UK, the appeal is straightforward. “There are two kinds of retail goods: the things you plan to buy and the things you never knew you wanted. The walls of Lidl cater to the former; the middle aisle caters to the latter.”

Dan Butler, senior insight analyst at IGD, says “the discounters have triumphed at this sort of ‘drop culture’ execution” in the UK.

“They generally succeed thanks to seasonal relevancy and an appeal with younger shoppers that are budget-conscious,” he adds. “Limited availability adds to a sense of urgency. Throw in savvy social media and a lot of these drops have been roaring successes.”

Before supermarkets go the same way, though, they must know what they want to achieve. The success of drops can be difficult to measure, points out Jamie Peate, global head of effectiveness & retail strategy at McCann Worldgroup. And it’s important to measure more than footfall. “Track attention, tone of conversation (excitement versus chaos), behavioural lift (rate of sale, basket mix, trade-up), short-term salience and commercial return,” he says. Retailers need to be prepared to engender “some disappointment” as a potential offshoot of “managed scarcity”, he warns – but that shouldn’t be the overwhelming result.

Successful drops will create more success than chaos, and more rewards than disappointment. Ultimately, his advice to retail teams is this: “Think like scientists and behave like showmen.”