Connect Retail is our weekly column on the sector, authored by veteran CRE writer Ian Ritter.

If there are any doubts about the Millennial generation’s impact on business, such thoughts are easily put to rest. The latest example is how the luxury sector of retail, which typically feeds off of a specific demographic and succeeds solely on name recognition, is now widening its marketing to target consumers of varying ages and backgrounds.

Nordstrom debuted a pop-up store at the recent South by Southwest music and arts festival, in Austin, Texas. Referred to as Pod, it featured charging stations, photo booths, cosmetics and other attractions. Nordstrom will be hitting the road at other spring festivals, including the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis, TN, Bottlerock in Napa, CA, and Shaky Knees in Atlanta, GA. Other high-end retailers, like Neiman Marcus and Jimmy Choo, had similar pop ups last year at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, CA.

Promotional and experiential moves such as these depict a proactive posture to increase sales and gain a larger market share. Since Millennials value experiences over products, these interactive pop-ups at festivals stimulate sales, while also creating a memorable and shareable moment for customers.

Nordstrom is not the first to debut such experiences. The concept first gained national attention when Target started opening pop-up stores in Manhattan, to great success, leading to the opening of its first physical store in the borough, in 2010. There is no reason that Nordstrom and others can’t have the same success, if they get the formula right.

Do you think this strategy will help luxury stores attract a new generation of consumers?