Game On

A Little Play Never Hurt Anyone

Schoooool’s out for summer!

(Thanks, Alice Cooper, for that wonderful introduction).
Summer. Ah yes, the time of year when children are no longer cooped up inside all day filling their minds with much-needed knowledge. Summer’s long anticipated brain break is what they live for. Or, at least what I lived for when I was a school-aged kid. (Those were the days, amiright?)

Summer is the perfect time to get children up, active, and playing outside. Your business has an opportunity to capitalize on this extra playtime — and specifically playtime outside.

Activating toy trends

It’s important to keep an eye on trends that become popular. This year,“Up & Active” was named a top toy trend for 2017.

Toys that encourage kids to get up and move — both indoors and outdoors — are on the rise. The latest active toys not only motivate kids to burn off excess energy, they are also engaging for the whole family and are more seamlessly integrated into other types of play. This trend includes tech toys that weave in active components, classic outdoor ride-on’s, traditional games that incorporate physical activity, and digital toys that foster face-to-face play. — Toy Industry Association

Outdoor and active toys even have their own category in the Toy of the Year Awards. Bunch O Balloons by Zuru took home the prize for top outdoor/active toy of the year for 2017. A wagon, drone Nerf® guns and zip flyers were all finalists in this category as well.

Bring “Up & Active” to your redemption program:

*Drum roll, please…..* Introducing our Game On Storyboard — the perfect way to incorporate “Up & Active” into your redemption program.

Game On is everything needed to get the fun going. This active storyboard delivers items for each player to drive interactive play. A solid combination of indoor and outdoor products can reach all your player types. The breakdown within this storyboard is 16% impulse items, 38% trader items, and 44% saver player options.

We always recommend a good mix of generic and brand name Game On product. Having options for all Redemption Ranges (Impulse, Trader & Saver) encourages each and every one of your guests to walk away with an item they’re happy with.

The Game Plan:

The Game On Story board is not only great because it gets children up and active during playtime, but it also incorporates toys that are great indoors AND outdoors. Sure, summer is the perfect time for children to get outside and play by tossing the football around or a pick-up game of 1-on-1. But what about those too-hot-to-handle days? Our Game On Storyboard includes toys that are great for air conditioned settings, too — like the dart board or YoYo.

Here’s the full list of items in the Game On Storyboard:

• 304573 Wilson® NCAA® Basketball
• 308392 Franklin® Practice Baseball
• 308989 Finger Football Game Asst
• 309467 Basketball & Net Set 10"
• 309951 Lucky Striker Bowling Game
• 311953 Duncan® Imperial YoYo Asst.
• 320369 Kan Jam Mini Game Set
• 315339 Franklin® Football With Tee & Pump
• 316450 Bowling Set 5.25"
• 317257 Super Suction Catch Game Asst.
• 317512 Sports Nerfoop® Asst.
• 318043 Super Sport Pool Table Game
• 318102 Sticky Dartboard 9.5"
• 318546 Glow In Dark Bat & Ball Asst.
• 318618 Franklin® Rainbow Playground Ball 8.5"
• 318774 Franklin® Neon Brite® Soccer Ball Asst.
• 318777 Franklin® Neon Soft Spike® Beach Volleyball Asst.

Another item that goes with the theme of active play, you ask? Jumbo Tennis Balls. In the lower-ticket range, it’s the perfect item to round out a visit if a guest has left over tickets to spend. They’re bouncy, they’re colorful and they get kids moving. You could even separate storyboard sections with a vertical line of Jumbo Tennis Balls to create a visually appealing merchandise layout in your redemption area.

Jumbo tennis balls also happen to be a top performing item. When we pick a top performing item, we look for the following:

• Appeals to a wide variety of guests
• Performs well in different markets
• Above our Performance Benchmark*

*A Prize Performance Benchmark is the average sales/orders of a product from our customers currently ordering it. For example, of the top-performing customers that purchase Jumbo Tennis Balls for their redemption program, the average volume is 23 tennis balls per month. We call this a benchmark as it helps us identify where the optimal performance for the Prize is.

Here’s how our Jumbo Tennis Balls play out:

At our standard ticket value of 450 tickets per Jumbo Tennis Ball, that’s approximately 10,350 tickets a month — or — 124,200 tickets a year. Given that we generally we see FEC & BECs payout 25 tickets to a dollar, we can then easily calculate the revenue potential of Jumbo Tennis Balls.

To calculate the potential revenue gain from this product, we use a simple calculation:

[Tickets Earned per month or year] ➗ [Tickets paid-out per dollar]. Using the numbers above, it would look like this:

Revenue per month: [10,350 Tickets] ➗ [25 Tickets per Dollar] = $414/month

Revenue per year: [124,200 Tickets] ➗ [25 Tickets per Dollar] = $4,968/year

NOTE #1: The numbers and calculations above are made utilizing Redemption Plus’ standard ticket, price and payout values. The exact numbers vary business to business in actuality.

If you’re not currently ordering Jumbo Tennis Balls and have a prize in a similar ticket range that isn’t performing as well, we recommend you make a swap. If you have questions about how or why you should do this, give one of our Value Architects a call or email our SMILE Support Team at smileteam@redemptionplus.com. They’re all about Jumbo Tennis Balls this month.

NOTE #2: If you’re currently ordering Jumbo Tennis Balls but your guests are redeeming less than 23/month, we’ll be releasing tips and tricks the next 4 weeks (as well as in this post) on how you can reach the benchmark and start seeing more $$$.

In case you need more convincing, here are some more benefits of providing active-play toys

According to The Genius of Play, there are six main benefits of play: development of physical, emotional, social, cognitive, creative and communication skills.

“Active play is critical for kids’ physical development. It helps children hone their coordination, balance, gross-motor skills (large movements like crawling and walking) and fine-motor skills (smaller movements like picking objects up).”

Maybe you’ve already implemented a product theme in your redemption program that is timely with summer and motivates kids to get up and play.

If not, we encourage you connect with one of our Value Architects today and ask about our redemption programs that can give you back hours a week, and maximize your redemption economics for optimal return.

This article is by Tabatha Bender, Connection Crusader at Redemption Plus.

Insights Empower is a collection of thoughts & insights to inspire, educate and connect the Family Entertainment & Bowling Center industry. From the team at Redemption Plus, est. 2017 🎉

Visit us at RedemptionPlus.com for more ways to #win.