Snapchat parent company Snap Inc. is bringing its camera-equipped Spectacles to another UK vendor in partnership with pop-up mall Boxpark, located in the Shoreditch district of East London. The news, announced on Boxpark’s website today, comes on the heels of Snap’s less-than-stellar earnings report on Tuesday, in which the company said it lost $40 million on unsold units due to “excess inventory reserves and inventory purchase commitment cancellation charges.”
Snap opens another Spectacles pop-up in the UK after reporting $40 million loss
Snap is adding a new pop-up location in London
Snap is adding a new pop-up location in London
is a Senior Producer on Decoder. Previously, he reported on the technology and gaming industries for more than a decade.
It’s not clear this will have a drastic effect on the company’s excess Spectacles inventory, which appears like it amounts to hundreds of thousands of unsold units, according to an earlier report in October from The Information. Snap has dropped its pop-up Snapbot vending machines in London for temporary sales in the past, and it has permanent fixtures in premium London department stores Harrods, John Lewis, and Selfridges. But it’s likely Snapchat users who really want Spectacles already own them. So unless Snap decides to lower the price on the device, which still retails for $130 or £130 in the UK, it may not be able to push many more units — especially if we’re talking about a pair of sunglasses for the London winter season.
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated Snap’s Spectacles presence in the UK. Boxpark is not the first permanent European store; it is a pop-up store only for the winter season. London department stores have had permanent displays since the summer.
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