Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< And so does John Lasseter. In early January, I think, he visited WDW and was aghast that you could buy Princess stuff at Big Al's and not more western stuff. So the word went out to change the selection at the shop. The Princess stuff was taken out, Davy Crockett hats and guns were moved out front. And the managers whined because sales went down. However, they sold a TON more Davy Crockett hats. The princess stuff has moved back in, but the compromise was that it wouldn't be so much "out front." >>> If true, that's a fascinating story. It would be a textbook example of what's gone wrong with WDW merchandising. So, they changed the merchandise mix to better reflect the theme of the area, and the specialized merchandise started selling far more than it did before, at the expense of the more generalized but popular princess merchandise. At first glance, it would appear that despite what we as fans might think, having the princess merchandise emphasized in Frontierland increased sales at that location. But what isn't easily measured is that when the princess stuff was replaced with "frontier" stuff, how did this affect the overall sales of princess merchandise in the park? It's entirely possible that most of the princess merchandise not purchased in Frontierland was later purchased elsewhere in the park. I doubt that too many families bought their little princesses a coonskin hat and a musket in lieu of the princess hoodie that she really wanted just because that's what was on offer at one particular location in Frontierland. Let me use some hypothetical numbers to make my point (these aren't meant to be actual numbers - just pay attention to the proportionality): Let's say that at the Frontierland shop in question, sales of Davy Crocket hats, guns, etc, went up $2000 a day, and sales of princess merchandise went down $5000 a day. The manager might rightly be complaining that his store has lost $3000/day of sales. But, what if of the $5000 of princess merchandise not sold at that location, $4000 of it was sold at other locations (in addition to what they otherwise would have sold of course)? In that case, the park overall would have a net gain of $1000 in sales, not a loss of $3000. In order to make the proper evaluation of this sort of situation, you'd have to have both the accounting infrastructure and the management structure in place to properly measure, evaluate, and make decisions. I have no idea if that's how merchandising decisions are made at WDW, but it would not surprise me if it's not. Consider the case where you DON'T have those things in place: it would seem very similar to what was described in #13: the managers at that particular location are upset that their sales went down. Imagine a scenario where each manager is responsible for maximizing sales in their area of responsibility, which might be a single shop or perhaps a group of shops in a certain area of the park. If princess merchandise is by far the most popular line in the park, then each manager individually might be able to benefit by swapping out what their traditional lines have been with princess stuff, even though merch sales in the park overall suffers.
Originally Posted By -em ^ EXACTLY!!! so obvious but they don't look at the bigger picture its all very "snap shot" on that particular location and not for the "greater good" (and you wonder why with my retail background it drives me nuts as I see the bigger picture...) One instance I know of (and specifics will be omitted) a certain location stocked pins and kept being asked for animal kingdom pins so the request was put in to start to carry DAK pins and was refused on the ground of where the location was (which was a generalized location ie not the exit to splash mountain..) and so that location carried 10 varieties of magic kingdom pins which 8 of 10 didn't sell but couldnt carry pins that were asked repeatedly for... Having varied merchandise can increase the bottom line much better than have the same merchandise everywhere. If you have 100 items unique to Tomorrowland, 100 to Fantasyland 100 to Adventureland etc etc etc you have a much better chance of people buying 1 or more of each group than only offering 100 items total and people buying just one.. >> I doubt that too many families bought their little princesses a coonskin hat and a musket in lieu of the princess hoodie that she really wanted just because that's what was on offer at one particular location in Frontierland.<< But if those parents purchased BOTH a coonskin hat AND the hoodie then you've increased the bottom line more than if you just carried the hoodies everywhere
Originally Posted By hopemax WDW can't even manage its inventory system. Really, I can go into Macy's, Office Depot, Pennys and several other stores, and if that store doesn't have it, they can tell me the next closest store that has it with a few keystrokes. WDW...all they know is what shows up on the daily pallet manifest. Heaven help the poor soul who is asked, "Where else could I buy this?" Or "this book jacket is ripped, do you have any more?" When I was there in January, we purchased a LE 2000, individually numbered Figment Christmas plush at Mousegear. The Epcot 25th anniversary LE2000 plush sold out in an hour, but this they had tons of in January? Sure, when they lose the box, or can't get it out of the warehouse until then.
Originally Posted By -em >>WDW can't even manage its inventory system<< At Mart I could look up any item in any store in the nation and have it be 95% accurate... I was always amazed that for as much "power" I had at Mart in ordering etc how little there is at WDW... All I ask is give me a year and complete control of WDW's merch system and it could be 10 x more profitable than it is now... Its not that hard...
Originally Posted By MPierce >> All I ask is give me a year and complete control of WDW's merch system and it could be 10 x more profitable than it is now... Its not that hard... << That's what I don't understand -em. Disney has got to have talented people up at the top. I just don't get why they do some things the way they do. I wish I had a chance to quiz them about certain decisions they have made over the past few years. It's not that I think I'm smarter at all. I just want to be enlightened.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 I think a lot of folks want to ascribe a certain intellectual superiority (or at least knowledge of what it takes to handle their jobs) to 'the folks in charge' whether they be the people who run WDW merchandise or are members of the local school board or Congress ... and I think in most cases, it is very misplaced. The more people 'in charge' I meet, the more I KNOW I could do a better job than they do. Without a doubt. With WDW merchandise, the model shifted dramatically in the mid-90s when Disney (after its consultants pushed Eisner, Judson Green and Co.) mandated that every location not only had to be profitable on its own merits, but had to reach certain numbers. That was the beginning of the end of true entertainment/themed retail ... and one huge part of 'show' began a slow march to death. Similarly, you can point to the rise of foamheads and meet-greet-and-gropes as the start of the death march of real entertainment in the parks ... or the rise of buffets, foamheads and the DDP killing dining as well. They believe they are making smart business decisions and giving guests the magical WDW experience they 'tell us they want.' But it's just like the guest who gets away ... you don't ever know how much you lost ... you can't quantify it on a spread sheet in an impressive Power Point at TDO ... it's like the old analogy of when you save a life you have no way of knowing what that life will mean to humanity down the line. Disney's 'tude would be ... who cares ... the others all have money don't they? I have NO retail background. None. I never even worked a basic job in the field, like many of my friends, 'to learn responsibility' when I was 15 or 16. But I do know a little bit about how much I used to spend at WDW on merchandise and how little I spend now. It used to be there was one big shop in every park where you could pick up all the basics and anything hot ... places like Emporium or what's now MouseGear for instance. And, if you forgot anything, there was the Disney Character Shop at Disney Village ... replaced about a dozen years ago by the massive WoD superstore. But the thought was very simple. If you wanted western themed goods, you'd find them in Frontierland ... futuristic items ... Tomorrowland ... character stuff ... Fantasyland and later Toontown etc ... Now, instead of adding to the storytelling, merchandising effectively helps kills it. Butcher it, slice it, hack it to pieces. Because we all know there's nothing that says EPCOT like the Jonas Bros ... nothing that tells the story of DAK like Hannah Montanta ... nothing that makes you feel like you just blasted into Space (Mountain) like a Pirates tee or a Tink sweatshirt. There's no need (with a few exceptions at EPCOT, every shrinking I might add, and DAK) to really look for anything because you know it will be available EVERY/ANY WHERE. I'll take this to the most basic level, with something I've come to detest -- pins. You shouldn't be able to buy one for say Coronado Springs at the Frontierland Trading Post or the BAH Pin Shack ... you want a pin from that resort ... GO TO IT! Now, the simpletons who run merchandising will say 'you can't do that ... no one will go ... you'll lose sales ...' All a fetid, fresh pile of BS. Most folks who really want a pin from Coronado will travel to it (assuming they aren't staying there) and when they are there, they are exposed to other retail options (like resort specific items, SW items, etc ...) as well as the resort itself ... food and beverage, spa, marina etc ... You make it easy and you may sell that $12.95 pin, but that's all you're going to get. You get them to the resort and you just may sell them on a $5,000 return vacation 18 months from now. What's so scary I find is just how out of touch Disney's consultants (and I've met a few) and the folks who implement their policies are. Disney is effectively and actively working to destroy all the facets of its theme park business that made it special to begin with. Of course, they arrogantly don't think this. But that's the result. Anyone remember when Liberty Square had shops that carried through the Colonial America theme? How about when Adventureland was more than character merchandise and a few rubber snakes? I'm also reasonably sure Disney doesn't even have a clue what it's got hidden away at some of its warehouses because every so often I'll run into something at the outlet stores or Property Control and just know the item is years (or even decades) old. Anyway, I could go on all day about the stupidity of it all, but I actually have better things to do! ~Pass the Pixie Dust~
