Park Operations
www.parkworld-online.com
RS: Ensuring and offering high quality products to our
guests is part of our standards at Europa-Park. In the
Online Sales
beginning, the clothing in our shops had merely a
merchandise design. Now we have also added items in
This season Holiday World is
very fashionable and high-class designs. For example,
launching a new online
last year we opened the Fallegur fashion and lifestyle
“HoliShop,” (see below)
store in the Icelandic themed area of the park. With
following guests requests to add
regards to price, we have to consider the structure of
a shop to its website.
our guests, which includes all income classes.
Park staff and their families
Therefore, it is highly important to offer a good mix of
acted as models for the shop,
where items include souvenir
different items in different price ranges.
shirts, caps, mugs and even a
WK: Guests expect that the quality of the merchandise
“Fudge of the Month” from Mrs
will be appropriate to the price point, in relation to what
Klaus’s Kitchen. Holiday World
Europa-Park offers some very high quality merchanidse
they see outside Holiday World. On logo-ed items,
fans can also pick up a copy of
including fashion items at the Fallegur store in “Iceland”
price is not as important.
Pat Koch’s pictorial history of
the park, including a personal
JC: Our best sellers in our redemption counters include How important is the retail environment, and
hand-written message.
Play Dough, board games like Monopoly, Star Wars should you theme it?
“The jury is out as to how
and Chutes & Ladders, plus colouring books, clocks RS: The experience of a visit to the themed areas of
well it [the Holishop] will do,”
and lawn ornaments. Our candy counters are also Europa-Park has to continue in our shops. We place a says park president and CEO,
tremendous earners. lot of importance on authentic and detailed theming in Will Koch, who can be seen on
order to be able to transport our guests to the respective the site serving up a “mug
How important is it to stock items that are not “country” they are in. And of course, our shopping
shot” to illustrate the park’s
available in the “real world”? experience should also have an international touch.
“Ride A Coaster” coffee mug.
JC: By having product they do not see in the stores, MS: I agree, the retail environment is part of the
Europa-Park also offers
your customers do not know the costs, and we can experience. This can be through theming, but also
merchandise sales online,
have better margins. We use over 30 suppliers to fill our space planning, routing, shelf presentation and the
where the current top seller is a
counters and bring in items that they have not seen knowledge and friendliness of the shop staff. The better
souvenir CD from Terenzi
before to keep them coming back time and time again. the total presentation, the better the sales.
Horror Nights.
As for games, it used to be that you were happy to get WK: I tend to believe that creating a visually interesting
“With the online shop guests
your costs out of the prizes. Times have changed. We retail environment helps to build sales. Theming can
can purchase items they saw
and liked at Europa-Park after
typically see from 2 to 2.5 times mark up on our prizes. certainly be a big part of that, however if I had to rate
their visit,” highlights director of
retail environment and theming in relation to
shopping, Ralf D Stumpf.
How important is the quality of goods? merchandise selection and pricing, I’d say selection and
“Visitors to our website can also
ER: Very important. If you want your customers to keep pricing wins by 2 to 1.
purchase gifts if they are
coming back. ER: While I am not big on theming areas, at times it
located far away from the park.
JC: Customers know junk when they see it. Our guests can be useful. Ultimately, I would rather have products
http://shop.holidayworld.com
in Chicago are very knowledgeable and will not stand that customers want rather than just trying to theme an
www.europapark-shop.de
for poor quality merchandise. Besides, when they leave area at the expense of everything else.
your park if the product is poor quality and breaks on
the way home, do you think they will come back and What will be the hot items of 2010?
spend more money at your park? ER: With the World Cup this summer, our soccer jerseys
MS: The quality of the merchandise reflects the quality seem to be the hit of the year so far. There doesn’t
of the park. We never cut down on quality, and source seem to be too much else out there, just a few repeat
the finest materials. Besides quality, it is also important plush items like Pokemon and monkey in the banana.
that the product is produced according to the MS: This year we notice that parks are very
regulations of the country where it will be sold, due to interested in stationary items like sticker sets,
the safety of kids who play or use the product. Today colouring books, reading books etc. Currently parents
more and more parks are also looking for items that are worried that kids only play with their computers
are made of “honest” materials, since the environment and are therefore searching for alternative activities to
has become a major issue. stimulate them.
“Leomonster” souvenirs at Minitalia Leolandia in Italy An Imagic designer at work creating theme park characters
MARCH 2010
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