The 3 Types of Redemption Refreshes
Each month we are actively updating planograms for new and existing customers, as well as our Storyboards. For many of you, trying to cram in a redemption refresh when you are not a merchandising expert can be daunting. As a matter of fact, you may choose to ignore it all together! But before you walk away from money, know that we have heard time and time again how refreshing the redemption room creates excitement and motivates regular Guests. “But I don’t have time or the resources to redo my redemption space,” you may say. Well, let’s explore how much time and resources is actually needed to get your assortment that fresh feeling your Guests love!
“Refreshing” your redemption space doesn’t necessarily mean a lot of heavy lifting for you or your employees. There are essentially 3 types of refreshes that you can choose from, and all have varying degrees of labor needed to accomplish them. The first is a Seasonal Refresh. This is the quickest and easiest option labor-wise to refresh your redemption area because it only affects a little bit of your redemption assortment in a short period of time. The second is a Theme Refresh. This refresh is more labor-intensive than a Seasonal, but it can yield incredible results if it’s done correctly. The third type of refresh is the Overhaul. This is done by either you and your staff or our Merchandising Team, but it is a complete overhaul of your assortment and how it is looks to your Guest. Below are pros and cons of each refresh type. This may be easier than you think!
Seasonal Refresh
A Seasonal Refresh is twofold: Seasonal as in the weather and Seasonal as in the Holidays. Both consist of the same amount of work for you and your staff. The first step is to step into your redemption area and keep an eye out for prizes that are out-of-season for either the weather or the Holidays.
Example: Recently, I visited a location that still had snowmen and reindeer toys in their bins. It’s April, mind you. When I asked the employee nearby why, they responded that it was the Owner’s policy that they run completely out of whatever product was in the bins before they fill it with other product. While this no doubt sounds reasonable to someone who is charge of keeping costs down, the other side of that coin is that every day that that product stays in the bin, out of Season, the less likely anyone is redeeming it. And when you have space in your bins, baskets, cranes and backwalls filled or partially filled with out-of-season prizes, the less you are motivating Guests to play for something they are excited about.
Take all your out-of-season prizes out of the assortment, store them in a well-marked container and pull them out when they are back in season again. This should not take a lot of time and should only be a few prizes out of your entire assortment. Then, look for products to replace the out-of-season ones by ticket value, size, and display type (peg item, bin, etc). As a starting point, with Summer rapidly approaching, getting stocked up with outdoor-friendly prizes can be a great way to excite your Guests.
Theme Refresh
A Theme Refresh is more noticeable to the Guest but requires some planning on your part and is a great way to keep your Guests motivated. Let’s use an easy example of a theme that can either be updated or added: Games and Puzzles. In this theme of prizes, you have the titans like Battleship and you have general prizes like playing cards. The critical piece of a Theme Refresh is to use your data to make decisions on which items to work out of your assortment, which ones to expand upon, and which ones are fine as they are. Working prizes out of your assortment is basically having a sale. Expanding upon prizes that move really well for you? That way be a little more tricky.
Here’s a way to do it without cannibalizing your own assortment: Let’s say that Battleship is a consistent prize for you. One way to expand upon this is to look for special-edition Battleships. For example, Battleship has a Black Panther Wakanda Forever edition that would be a great way to motivate Guests that love the game but don’t have that edition. Of course, not everyone is familiar with all the toy brands and trends, so then you’d turn to Redemption Plus to help you sort through the data and give your recommendations.
Resetting your theme(s) is a bit more time-consuming than the Seasonal Refresh, but it could make all the difference in the world for boosting arcade sales. In order to give you fresh choices within popular themes, we provide Storyboards. These assortments are made up of proven prizes and trending licenses, taking the guesswork out of which items you should get.
Overhaul
The last option for a refresh is an Overhaul. An Overhaul is exactly what it sounds like: take everything down, bring in a bunch of new prizes and reset the entire thing. Most of our customers aren’t staffed well enough or have the knowledge of merchandising to do this. That’s why having an expert merchandiser come to get your set up and train your team is the preferred way to do a refresh with a lot of our top customers. After all, we live in toy land and understand merchandising deeply. In this scenario, you will still need to manage out older prizes. There are plenty of ways to do that that make your Guests happy! Reach out to a Redemption Plus Account Manager for suggestions.
The main ingredients to an Overhaul are planning, planograms, merchandising prep, and installation. While we do on-site installs several times a month, we also provide a “Virtual” version in which we connect with your Team and walk them through each step of the Overhaul by video or phone. This is especially effective if you have a team dedicated to managing your redemption. Hands-on experience is the best training tool for learning how to manage your redemption program!
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