Remember to cater to your members.On Father’s Day my husband and I decided to spend the day at a local attraction with our kids. We are members of this park and enjoy all the perks that come along with it: the free parking, the complimentary tickets that we use anytime family is in town, and of course the food and merchandise discounts. After two trips, the annual passes pay for themselves.
On this particular visit, our son was excited to experience a new animal exhibit that had just opened. And when we were done exploring the new exhibit, we conveniently exited right into a gift shop filled with merchandise that was specific to the animals we had just seen.
My 17-month-old daughter instantly toddled her way toward the plush and the bubble wands. My four-year-old son liked the bubble wands but couldn’t decide between that, a plush toy or a STEM toy kit, eventually settling on the STEM toy. My husband and I found some soft tees featuring the park name and the animal we had just visited.
"Your new merchandise could mean the difference between a multi-item purchase or a whole family skipping the store because they’ve seen it all before.”
We didn’t really need any of it, but it was a special day, and we decided to splurge. But knowing that we were going to get a nice discount when we checked out made the expense a little bit easier to absorb. In fact, even though we go there often, we look at the merchandise every time we are there.
The discount on merchandise may not have been the reason we bought the membership, but it is the icing on the cake. But what I didn’t see anywhere at the park was signage reminding passholders that they receive the discount. That discount might have been the deciding factor between us buying something for the whole family or us having to tell our kids, “Nah, maybe next time.”
Don’t underestimate the value that your members hold. And don’t think that just because they can come any time they want, that they won’t be interested in merchandise. After all, they like coming to your attraction so much they decided to buy a pass so they could come all year.
Keep your merchandise fresh because you never know when that passholder might be coming by. Your new merchandise could mean the difference between a multi-item purchase or a whole family skipping the store because they’ve seen it all before. |
