Never settle: the added value

Frank Maail business consultant

It is Monday the new CEO has some announcements to make: from now on things will be changing. He used his first 30 days to analyze processes and decided to go back to the drawing table. Today he is presenting a fine tuned strategy aligned with the company’s core values. Your job to implement and pay it forward. You know it will impact headcount and some tough decisions have to be made. Frustrating… Yes, however this is the time to show your leadership skills. After a period of some resistance the effects are visible: profit growth. Continue reading Never settle: the added value

Increase spends: 10 basics in Retail

The end of 2016 is near, a few more weeks to go. How will this look like for you? Are you hitting budget this year? Sometimes it is good to be reminded of how to increase your spends! I have summarized 10 basic elements which will help you to increase spends in your shops.

  1. Upsell: Ask the question… every time, every transaction!
  2. Presentation: highlight those best sellers!
  3. People: training and focus but most of all: hire the right people
  4. Place: use your data to plan your store properly
  5. Price: value for money
  6. Promotions: you need promotions believe me, but don’t give away your products
  7. Products: matching the needs of your customers
  8. Theming: get the story right in your store and you will increase value for money
  9. Planning: forecast the needs and never run out of stock on your best sellers
  10. Service: happy people buy

Since the holiday season is about to start, the next post will focus on driving sales during the holidays!

Why Universal Studios Japan beats Disney SEA

fashionable-easter-tokyo-disneysea-mickey-and-minnie-american-waterfront

During my visit to Japan I took the opportunity to experience two major theme parks: Universal Studios in Osaka and Disney SEA in Tokyo. As you can imagine expectations were high since I have visited both premium brands in other countries. Really excited to visit these parks! Not only from a professional point of view also as a theme park fan.

Both parks impressed me on theming, entertainment and cleanliness. However Continue reading Why Universal Studios Japan beats Disney SEA

Theme Park Retail: 14 Challenges in Visual Merchandising

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Like in every business: Time and Money are key in Visual Merchandising. And these elements are rare especially Time in peak periods or staff budget in low season to actually improve your store standards. During low season you are often busy with calculations, staff or tasks which are not finished during the peak season. Or simply you now have the chance to use your overtime and take some days off. Below I will describe the major challenges (I faced at different job roles) in Visual Merchandising in a fast moving environment with tide budgets and where time plays a significant role. These are common situations and hopefully will help you think of the standards in your own commercial area. Continue reading Theme Park Retail: 14 Challenges in Visual Merchandising

The Chinese Tourist: are you ready?

chinese tourist

Before reading this post, make sure you have read my post The Chinese tourist: a cultural difference. Over the last weeks I have visited tourist destinations in China were 20 million visitors annually is the norm. Just think about it: 20 million, that is the complete population of The Netherlands and even then you are 3 million short. In some parks it seemed we were the only foreigners which made us an additional attraction (read: photo set). But it also helped a lot observing behavior and the needs of the Chinese tourist. Making it slightly easier to understand the expectations of this interesting market group. In 2014 the number of Chinese visiting an overseas country increased with 19.49% over 2013. With the increasing salaries we can expect this trend to be continued. So be prepared! I have described the cultural difference between the West and China already which has a major impact on how you should target the Chinese tourist. In this post I will give you my personal view on how you should trigger the Chinese tourist when visiting your theme park or tourist attraction. READ MORE

De Keukenhof: a colorful experience with a lot of potential!

Keukenhof tulips

One of the great benefits working for Madame Tussauds in Amsterdam were the free tickets to other attractions in The Netherlands. There is a special membership pass which allows employees from one attraction to visit the other attraction or theme park.

On a Saturday morning we decided to go to one of the most popular attraction near Amsterdam: De Keukenhof. A seasonal outdoor attraction with over 7 million flowers and bulbs. If you want you can spend the complete day walking around the tulip fields. De Keukenhof is extremely popular with tourists from Asia so expect dozens of touring cars filled with Asian tourist on a single day.

Anyway, after parking the car we headed to the main entrance. Usually with the membership pass you need to collect the tickets at the Guest Service desk before you can enter the attraction. I entered the Guest Service office and saw 2 employees talking to each other. I wanted to wait until they were finished but suddenly there was an ice cold silence. I looked up and saw 4 annoyed eyes staring at me with the look: “what are you doing here…? You are disturbing our conversation!” Without saying a word. I said Hello and asked where I could collect the tickets. The reaction did not surprised me. “You need to buy tickets at the entrance!” I mentioned the membership card and the response was far from friendly pointing to the entrance and telling me that I could walk through. Continue reading De Keukenhof: a colorful experience with a lot of potential!

Legoland Malaysia: bricklayer for tourism in Johor Bahru

Legoland Malaysia

It was obvious that I needed to pay a visit to one of the attractions of Merlin Entertainments, so why not go for a concept I really enjoy? And since Legoland Malaysia was on route to Singapore and I worked with the Director of Operations in Europe it was an easy pick! Continue reading Legoland Malaysia: bricklayer for tourism in Johor Bahru

The Chinese tourist: a cultural difference

Cultural Difference

It is 6 weeks already since I have left Amsterdam to explorer the Asian theme park and attraction market. And although I have visited a couple of theme parks over the last years in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Beijing (read the post about Happy Valley here), Asia keeps surprising me. Last year I did set the goal to relocate to Asia but did not want to settle in China (based on a 3 week holiday trip, which is obviously not really showing the real China). This time China really got me. Due travelling on a budget I pushed myself to blend more with local (tourists) and eat, sleep and travel like a local (as a matter of fact: I write this post during a 10 hour train ride on a standing ticket, yes standing means really standing or sit in the aisle if you beat the competition by running at the platform like I did). Must admit it is far from comfortable but this is China: be flexible and you will enjoy the country, people and all what is crossing your path. And maybe the most important reason for now: it gives you time to observe the behavior of people. Which you should know is totally different from the rest of Asia.

Culture, People and Behavior
The cultural difference between the East and the West is the most important element to keep in mind when driving business or setting up a tourist attraction in China. Although I don’t consider myself as a cultural guru and there are books describing the Chinese culture better than I do. When it comes down to driving spends in tourism destinations it is about understanding guest behavior. Culture affects behavior (or does behavior results to culture?) what will impact your strategy to attract visitors and make them spend within the attraction. READ MORE

 

Visual Merchandising: who is involved?

It's sugar Dubai

Everyone working in your store… don’t forget this! They all should be trained on your VM principles or at least be aware what the importance of Visual Merchandising is. If you need a dedicated Visual Merchandising supervisor, manager or coordinator (still being confused due different titles doing the same tasks but ok) depends on the size of the store and net profit. However the return on investment (ROI) should be an easy calculation. Anyway there should be someone responsible for VM within the business whether it is the Store manager, Retail manager or the Visual Merchandising Manager. Continue reading Visual Merchandising: who is involved?

The stock management cycle

Stock management cycle

The stock management cycle is a common used term during my training on Stock Management. I used this to explain the process of product development to show the importance of forecasting and communication with a buying department. Continue reading The stock management cycle