ustomer-made. Temporary stores. Massclusivity. By any trend you choose to name, the consumer-retail world is bingeing on large doses of alternative marketing these days — some tasty, some tasteless — but all designed to connect with customers in ways that, well, actually connect.

This month, we examine one of those ideas and what it may — or may not — have to offer our readers in the trade show trenches who love adapting tricks from the outside.

The trend, called pop-up retail, is popping up all over the world where (usually) unannounced initiatives — like sidewalk sales — appear, create excitement, draw in crowds, and then disappear, to the delight of retail consumers who are increasingly used to planned spontaneity.

The following examples, compiled by trendwatching.com, demonstrate the variety and effectiveness of this trend. The first is my personal favorite.

In collaboration with public-art producer Creative Time, fashion house Imitation Of Christ launched a moveable installation/store during New York’s Fashion Week in February. The installation consisted of nothing more than a clear Plexiglas box, a lone salesperson, the single item for sale each day (ranging from a $7,000 couture dress, to an unpredictable temptation for $50), and a neon sign announcing the store. Red dots on a map changed each day at 1 p.m. to announce the newest, strategically chosen store locations and times of operation for the day. The nomadic store literally picked up and changed locations throughout the day, and closed as soon as the items sold. Last fall, funky London T-shirt company Imperfectionist organized two pop-up sales in Exmouth Market, London. The label produced flyers and gathered e-mail addresses from its Web site, and told customers where they’d pop up only two days before the event. Both times the sales were combined with music and booze, and both times they sold out. In Milan, Italy, a Lancome Peeling pop-up store appeared on one of the city’s top designer-retailer streets promoting Lancome’s new Resurance peeling treatment. Outside the store, a red flashing sign indicated how many days were left until closing. In New York, J.C. Penney Co. Inc. opened a one-week, Fifth Ave. pop-up last September to launch designer Colin Cowie’s exclusive bridal collection for the chain, as well as J.C. Penney’s revamped bridal registry. The store was open one week, and hosted four “instant weddings” on the opening day. In October of last year, Target Corp. opened its umpteenth pop-up store: a one-month outlet in New York’s Times Square, selling its exclusive Pink collection of everything from candles to cashmere scarves to baseball T-shirts. All proceeds from the store benefited the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. And last year, Target actually housed a temporary floating store on the Hudson River for the Christmas season. Finally, there is The Swatch Group’s instant stores, first cousin to the trade show. Thanks to an innovative shop-fitting concept, new display solutions can be installed so quickly that they can pop up for a few hours on the fringe of events. A shop strategy that revolves around setting up and dismantling everything at lightening speed makes it possible for Swatch to pop up anywhere in the world where a refreshing cultural scene is emerging. The plan is for instant stores to shoot out of the ground like mushrooms in all large cities, enjoy a brief, intensive presence, then disappear and pop up again in a different place from one day to the next. Clever, those Swiss.

Pop-up retail is ready-made and waiting to be adapted by the trade show industry if for no other reason than it makes good sense. It connects with what customers are already into — surprise, exclusivity, and buzz on the show floor. If exhibits come and go, why not spontaneous product displays, pop-up show sales, or time-delimited giveaways as well? After all, we practically invented the concept. E