Getting holiday ready

Zoo and aquarium gift shops may be all about the animals year-round, but they are also able to take advantage of the fall and winter holidays to offer special merchandise and a festive feel inside their stores, giving customers more reasons to buy. ANDMORE shares insights gained from three zoo and aquarium retailers who attend the its various buying events, which include Atlanta Market and Las Vegas Market. They discuss holiday trends, staffing, merchandise and tips to drive store traffic.

Q: What holiday products do you see trending this fall and winter for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas?

Columbus Zoo and Aquarium’s Emily May (EM): You can never go wrong with light-up and glow toys for the fall/winter season. Even bubble swords/wands that sell amazingly in the summer can still be sold during the colder months. Most have dual modes that run both lights and bubbles, or just lights. For adults, light-up necklaces are a fun accessory, and they come in multiple styles for all seasons.

Lake Superior Zoo and Aquarium’s Samantha Halligan (SH): As with all seasons, trends change, but this year we’re looking into products that are multifunctional and versatile to meet the demands of our diverse consumers. We’ve seen that items that can also be used outside of the holidays are more likely to continue to sell well, not only during these seasons but before and afterwards. Candy and plush are always a top holiday gift item, but we’re also seeing an increase in recycled tote sales.

ZooTampa’s Elie Johnson (EJ): I am finding our guests are interested in purchasing items that align with their values. They are willing to spend more money to purchase sustainable items in the gift shops. We do well with items that tie back to our mission, such as snare art that supports painted dog conservation, marble items that support sea turtles, bracelets that support wildlife or oceans and items made from sustainable goods.

Socially conscious items also are very successful, especially around the holidays. We find our guests want to purchase an item that they not only love, but also help to make a difference. Our guests are spending more time learning about the items and purchasing gifts that will have a lasting impact.

For Christmas here at ZooTampa, we do really well with beach-themed Christmas items like manatees with Santa hats, beachy ornaments (Santa riding a sea turtle, Christmas trees made out of sand), nautical nutcrackers and plush animals with winter or Christmas themes. Gnomes, snowmen and Christmas signs still seem to be trending this year.

Q: How are you preparing and stocking merchandise for seasonal sales?

EM: Plan ahead! Do your buying for the fall/winter in the spring/summer if you can and project out your orders. If you wait until closer to the later seasons, lots of items will have already been sold and gone. This goes for cold weather items as well. Custom blankets take a while to produce and hats/gloves/handwarmers may have low stock by the time you think of it.

If you have a Halloween event at your location, consider stocking some toddler/youth costumes in late summer. They may look cute in your store during the Halloween season, but at that point, most parents/guardians will have already selected and purchased a costume for their child. If you have members that frequent your location, this is a great item to promote to them as they might not be able to find unique costumes like this at most big box stores.

SH: We’ve found that pairing items together to create a holiday-themed product has worked well for us and allows us to use products that are already on our shelves while upselling merchandise as a package.

As a zoo gift shop, we have plush items such as rabbits, bats and reindeer already on our shelves, and we often pair these with candy and other gift novelties to create a holiday-themed package. This creates an easy buy for the consumer and an opportunity for increased profits for the shop. After the season/holiday, items that are left can be dispersed and sold separately as they were prior.

EJ: I try to order items for the holidays as early as possible to avoid missing out on the most popular items. We do not have a ton of warehouse space, so I often order early but delay the shipment. This allows me to secure the items I want but not have to store them for months.

I use my vendors as a guide to show me top trends for the season. Going to trade shows to see new items and how others display them is really helpful. I also work with my marketing and events teams to see what themes we will have for the event season so I can try to find merchandise that aligns.

If we are going to promote bats for Halloween, I will buy extra bat-related merchandise — plush, T-shirts, stickers, giftware. If penguins are going to be featured for Christmas, we will theme our Christmas shop heavily with penguin merchandise. Then if we do not sell through all of these items, I can repurpose them in our shops.

Q: What are some ways you drive traffic into your store during these seasons?

EM: Work with your communications/social media team if you have one. Any custom items that are unique to your store and the holiday are always great to promote. Consider having a member promo as well, something just for those loyal to your location. They may bypass the gift shops if they’re there frequently, so try and get them in your stores to capture those sales.

“Socially conscious items also are very successful, especially around the holidays. We find our guests want to purchase an item that they not only love, but also help to make a difference.” — Elie Johnson, ZooTampa

SH: We have several events that are hosted around each season/holiday that help drive traffic to our store. We also host a membership drive in the spring and in the fall that includes additional perks, which tend to bring in additional traffic. With this, we also offer member discounts and specials to help increase sales in the gift shop.

EJ: We have special holiday events for both Halloween and Christmas. Select nights in October, we host “Creatures of the Night” geared for all ages. Guests can join us for Halloween adventures complete with animals, spooky frights, festive treats and themed merchandise.

During this event, we will stage portable carts throughout the zoo. Due to the increased traffic and limited space in our stores, we need these portable locations to capture sales for guests who do not wish to wait in line to enter the shops. The carts are very successful in promoting our animal adoption program as well as selling items like bubble wands, light-up toys, ice cold drinks and glow-in-the-dark cotton candy.

Likewise, select nights after Thanksgiving through the end of December, we celebrate the holidays with Christmas in the Wild. We are open late so guests can experience cheerful realms, merry shows, jolly animal experiences, festive treats and holiday merchandise. For the Christmas event, we have portable carts similar to Halloween, but also add a holiday store complete with holiday decor, gift items, ornaments and plush. We also have a customizable ornament stand added to one of our outdoor gift shops.

We work closely with our marketing team to boost sales by promoting our webstore and animal adoption program on our social media platforms. For example, we will promote the red wolf adoption during Halloween or our pygmy hippos for Christmas (I want a hippopotamus for Christmas).

Q: What are some tips you have for staffing for the increase in seasonal/holiday traffic?

EM: Lots of our seasonal employees are students. Work with local school districts and colleges to attract employees who are home for the holidays or looking to make some extra cash during the holiday season. If you don’t already offer benefits to your employees, consider free admission to your institution for employees and one other person, while employed. Some people work for the fun benefits alone, but a competitive wage never hurts.

SH: Keep things simple! Discounts and promotions are a great way to get people to your store, but too many can cause confusion and profit loss. Focus on your budget goals and how best to reach them and share those goals with your staff.

EJ: In order to staff for the holidays, we open our seasonal positions starting in September. This gives us time to get new staff trained and ready for the busy season. We allow our staff to have flexible schedules that coincide with their commitments outside of work. We find that anyone can be trained to work on a cash register, so we mainly focus on hiring staff with a positive attitude who are willing to learn and engage with our guests.

ANDMORE serves as the center of commerce for the wholesale furniture, gift, home decor and apparel industries with more than 60 years of relationships and experience creating scalable business platforms for wholesale commerce. Its premium showroom spaces spanning more than 20 million square feet in High Point, North Carolina, Las Vegas and Atlanta, paired with digital tools connect the wholesale industries it serves. More information can be found at www.andmore.com.