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
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!
Guests entering the store in a Theme Park usually are forced or have time left to cruise your store. Not particularly to shop but more from curiosity and as an extra activity what makes it a different customer journey. We could say our stores and other commercial areas should be approached as the extra attraction. Continue reading The customer journey
The value of Visual Merchandising is impressive. Imagine it is 15 minutes prior closing time and you are standing in a store where there is no overview, no clear walkways and it is either dark or TL-lighting is in place. You came to the store to buy a teddy bear (the one displayed in the shop window) for your nephew but you are not able to find it next to the toys but behind some boxes in a dark corner next to the silverware. You look at the price tag and see that this plate (?) costs you €5,-, at least that’s what the label on the shelf says. (apparently someone did not replenished the store well) You are looking around to find a staff member to tell you the price but there is nobody around. At the till you see the price of €25. This is over your intended budget however you are buying this bear because there was no other option. Since all the stores are closed and you are the only one in this store left you needed to find this product. Now if you had more time… Did you consider going to this store in the first place? You were triggered by the bear in the window but standing in the opening of the store you could have made up your mind. With this experience you would not go back to this store as this will take too much time and probably frustration.
Does the example point out the value of Visual Merchandising? Yes, it does! Continue reading The value of Visual Merchandising (part one)
