UPS at NYFW:
The Shows x The Martin Agency
Services & Tech Features
- 100% Custom Shopify Store Build
- Shopify POS On-Site Integration at SoHo Pop-Up
- Brand Ambassador Training on POS Tech
UPS is a deeply philanthropic company committed to Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion. Thanks to an on-going collaboration with The Martin Agency, an award-winning full-service marketing group, they live this commitment not just within the walls of their own company but by prominently lifting up diversely owned small and medium businesses (SMBs) to international platforms. Returning in September 2022 as the official shipping partner of NYFW: The Shows, UPS wasn’t content to simply watch from the sidelines - they strutted their values on the runway and took fashion week by storm, relaunching their clothing line: Be Unstoppable.
La Bodega Baque
The Martin Agency (TMA) recruited Hazil Studios for UPS’s second consecutive NYFW collection and came to us with a vision. UPS was relaunching their limited-edition clothing line, this time in partnership with Angelo Baque and Awake NY, with the goal of supporting SMBs in the Latinx community. The highlight of this endeavor was “La Bodega Baque,” a pop-up boutique experience in the heart of SoHo, featuring the UPS x Awake NY clothing line as well as inventory from several Latinx SMBs including:
- Mexico In My Pocket LLC
- Devocion Coffee
- Kids of Immigrants
- Luar
- Becalia Botanicals
- Pisqueya
- Anima Mundi
- Solano EXP
- Agua Bonita
- Gente Unida
- Amor Prohibido
- BUENO
Having worked with TMA and UPS in February 2022, we immediately recognized this pop-up was a huge step forward for the company’s visibility at NYFW, an opportunity clearly stemming from the success of TMA and UPS’s previous collaboration. For the company to go from hosting out of a booth on the sidelines to their own pop-up in the heart of NYC just seven months later was a stunning feat, and we were thrilled to be a part of the journey once again. To make this vision a reality, we were put in charge of two necessary milestones: an online store and POS for the pop-up.
Online Store
Online is the new local. As such, UPS needed a website emblematic of the spirited and thriving Latin community they were representing. A store every bit as exciting and edgy as La Bodega Baque itself. An informational hub where people could go to view and purchase the relaunched clothing collection, while also learning about the underlying philanthropic efforts surrounding the project.
Hazil Studios took the reins by building a completely customized Shopify website to feature the UPS x Awake NY clothing line for NYFW. We worked closely with TMA, who provided expert design guidance and stunning imagery, to bring to life La Bodega Baque’s online presence.
POS & Training at La Bodega Baque
Of course, there’s nothing quite like an in-person SoHo shopping experience during NYFW. Thankfully, the many features of Shopify POS enabled us to seamlessly unite in-person selling with the counterpart online stores.
For this project, Hazil Studios was assigned three tasks:
Shopify POS On-site Integration for UPS x Awake NY
The key to success for this milestone was to synchronize the POS at La Bodega Baque with the online store we’d just built for UPS in order to promote omni-channel selling. Given the limited-edition and popular nature of the clothing line, it was bound to sell out. One of the greatest aspects of Shopify POS is its ability to seamlessly connect all facets of a business so they work together in tandem, not in parallel. Hazil Studios integrated the POS and managed the inventory, so everyone was able to purchase pieces without fear of the shown available numbers being inaccurate.
Set up Shopify POS for Latinx SMBs featured at La Bodega Baque
An exciting challenge of incorporating the inventory from the Latinx SMBs with Shopify POS for La Bodega Baque was that all this information had to be integrated separately from the UPS clothing collections.
Challenge: We wanted to allow each SMB live-access to their own sales and inventory. At first, it was recommended that the most organized way of achieving this was to have twelve different POS systems integrated with the twelve different SMBs’ personal online stores (which would have been doable but a logistical nightmare for Brand Ambassadors on-site).
Solution: We proposed a custom online marketplace where all inventory to be sold from these featured Latinx stores at La Bodega Baque could be tracked. Each SMB owner would have access to their own dashboard within this marketplace, where they could track their business progress at the pop-up as it was happening in real-time. This would enable us to only need one additional POS setup outside of the original for the UPS specific inventory. The simplicity of this work-around made the day run much more smoothly for the Brand Ambassadors taking sales at the pop-up and the SMB owners were thrilled.
Train Brand Ambassadors at La Bodega Baque on the tech
To complete the turn-key experience for La Bodega Baque, Hazil Studios:
- Ordered the POS hardware
- Installed the systems
- Verified and managed the inventory
- Trained the Brand Ambassadors on the tech prior to the opening of La Bodega Baque
The Brand Ambassadors were on the ground at the pop-up selling the merchandise. As such, it was important for them to be intimately acquainted with the tech and processes involved. Hazil Studios’ Founder & CEO and Head of Tech were on the ground in SoHo on Opening Day, getting everyone up to speed on the different facets of POS. Our team then remained available throughout the weekend, managing inventory changes and staying in close contact with all twelve SMBs in case any issues came up. We wanted to ensure everything would go off without a hitch, and it certainly did!
Hazil Studios had a blast working with The Martin Agency, IMG, and UPS to bring the SoHo pop-up La Bodega Baque to life for NYFW: The Shows. Understanding New York City and how to emulate it for our clients is what we do best, and to work on a project so closely connected to the heartbeat of the city truly put us in our element. We are thrilled and proud to be a part of the huge success of this endeavor. Congratulations, everyone!
Success with the Press:
