Bark & Co is hosting a pop-up shop where dogs can do their own shopping, with a related mobile application enabling owners to view and purchase the products their pets show the most interest in.

The company behind dog products subscription service BarkBox is launching its BarkShop Live for on week in New York, and allows humans to purchase tickets for themselves and their pups to play and interact with products. Through a corresponding mobile app, technology will track which items dogs want to take home most and informs owners which toys are the favorites.

“Humans can use the BarkShop Live Web app to view a real-time feed of their dog’s favorite toys, and purchase any of the items their dog interacted with,” said Meghan Knoll, program manager at BarkBeta. “After their personal shopping appointment, we will deliver the pup’s purchases straight to their door, because dogs can not carry shopping bags.

“BarkShop Live is a shared experience between dogs and their parents,” she said. “Our retail space is specially designed with dog happiness in mind, and dogs are happiest with their humans!”

Barking up the right tree
BarkBox provides a box full of products for pet dogs through delivery every month.

BarkShop Live is an experiment to make shopping for pets more interesting and interactive by leveraging the capability of mobile. Owners can schedule their personal shopping appointment with their pets through the mobilized Web site barkshoplive.com.

Users can purchase tickets for scheduled half-hour personal shopping appointments at the BarkShop Live pop-up store through the Web site for $30. The $30 will go towards any products purchase.

Humans and their pets attend at their scheduled time, where dogs can play in the store and interact with products. Dogs wear a special technological vest that interacts with RFID tags of toys, keeps track of their play time and determines which items are most desired.

The results are shared through the BarkShop Live app. Humans can purchase the items directly within the app and have them delivered to their door.

The pop-up shop will open on June 6 and run until June 12.

In-store mobile activations
In-store integrations with apps is growing as a part of retailers’ strategies.

For instance, Dunkin’ Donuts caffeinated its mobile strategy with an updated application featuring enticing imagery and a touch-friendly interface, a loyalty promotion giving away 125 points and an app pilot for Baskin-Robbins, heating up competition with Starbucks (see more).

Also, supermarket chain Tesco rolled out its own branded mobile payments application, which is likely to benefit from enhanced loyalty tie-ins, but may struggle as a standalone offering (see more).

“BarkShop Live is an experimental retail experience,” Ms. Knoll said. “We are not really sure what is going to happen, but we are pretty sure it will be awesome!

“Shoppers need to buy a ticket and schedule a ‘pawsonal’ shopping appointment in advance of their visit, but every cent of their ticket’s price can be applied to products their dog’s loves inside BarkShop Live.”