Merchandising

Theme park merchandise is more than a shop. Planned well, it is a revenue stream and a way for guests to take the theme home.

Merchandise carries the park home with the guest, and earns for the park while it does. Merchandising is one of the revenue streams that Mast Parks builds into a park's plan. Mast Parks plans theme park merchandising as a key revenue stream: we integrate merchandise with the park's theme, and we use content and events to popularise it.

The service sits in the Launch and Growth stage of the 13 Mast Parks services. It follows Marketing and Branding and comes before Content and Events. The three work closely, because merchandise sells best when guests already know and love the story it comes from.

Merchandise as a revenue stream

Merchandise is planned from the start as a source of income, not as an afterthought. The plan decides what kinds of products the park will offer, where they will be sold and how they connect to what guests experience in the park.

Range design

Mast Parks designs the range: the products, the characters on them and the look of each item. The range follows the park's story, its mascots and its look, so that each item is recognisable as belonging to the park.

Linking to the theme and the mascots

Mascots are the base for most theme park merchandise, because guests form attachments to characters. The range draws on the mascots designed in Theme Development, and on the park's story and look.

Popularising it

Merchandise does not sell itself. Content and events bring attention to the range, and they turn a product into something guests want. This is why merchandising and Content and Events are planned together.

Merchandising options

Where a park has several attractions, such as an amusement park, a water park, an aquarium and a snow park, the merchandising plan offers options across all of them, under one theme.

An owner brings the theme and the mascots, the sales points in the park and an idea of the budget for the range. Where the park already sells merchandise, the owner shares what has sold well.

The owner receives a merchandising plan and a designed range. Mast Parks designs and plans the range. It does not manufacture or supply it, but helps clients by connecting them with multiple vendors in India and abroad.

Theme park merchandise planning is needed by new parks, and by existing parks that want a new income stream.

Merchandising is used by private landowners, existing park owners, family businesses, government and tourism bodies, and temples and religious trusts. It applies to all eight park types.

Mast Parks designed unique merchandise for Nicco Park. It planned merchandising for FEC Raipur and offered merchandising options at Fun World.

At Jungle Adventures, the park sells original Jungle Book merchandise, and Mast Parks worked on merchandising as part of the project.

• What should the park sell? The range follows the story and the audience.
• Which characters carry the range? Usually the park's mascots.
• Where is it sold? Shops, exits, kiosks and online are possible places.
• How do we make it popular? Content and events draw attention to it.
• What is the risk? Stock that does not sell is a cost, so the range is planned with care.

Merchandise bought off the shelf may carry no link to the park. Guests see little reason to buy it, and the park earns little. A range that is designed late may miss the opening, when interest is at its highest. Planning the range alongside the theme lets merchandise be ready for opening day and belong to the park.

• Merchandise. Products sold to guests that carry the park's name, characters or look.
• Revenue stream. A source of income.
• Mascot. A character that represents the park or one of its zones.
• Range. The set of products on offer.
• Open IP. Material that anyone may use. Jungle Adventures uses open IP for the Jungle Book.

Owners get more from this service when they arrive with answers, or at least with a view, on the points below. None of them needs to be settled in advance, and Mast Parks can help to settle them.

• What does the park already sell?
• Which mascots and characters exist?
• Where will merchandise be sold?
• What is the budget for the first range?
• Who will supply or make the items?

Mast Parks organises its work as 13 services in four stages, listed here in the order a project usually follows. Merchandising is shown in bold. An owner can start at any stage, but each stage builds on the one before it.

• Concept and Planning. Feasibility Studies, Financial Planning, Concept Creation, Theme Development.
• Design and Execution. Master Planning, Architectural Designing, Project Management Consultancy.
• Rides, People and Operations. Ride and Attraction Planning, Team Hiring and Training, Operations Planning.
• Launch and Growth. Marketing and Branding, Merchandising, Content and Events.

Most owners use several of these services together, and some use the full set from idea to opening. See all 13 on the services page.

Mast Parks works with the owner at each step. The owner approves the work before it moves to the next stage, and revisions are part of the process. The owner knows the site, the region and the ambition. Mast Parks brings experience of designing and delivering parks across eight park types. The best results come when the two work as one team, with decisions made quickly and in the open.

To start a conversation, use the contact page. Mast Parks will ask about the site, the park you have in mind and where you are in the project.

Guests do not buy merchandise because they need it. They buy it because it reminds them of something they enjoyed, or lets them continue the story at home. For a child, a toy of a favourite mascot is a way to keep the visit going. For a family, a keepsake marks the day. A good range respects this: it offers things guests want to keep, rather than things that simply carry a logo.

This is why range design starts from the theme and the mascots. The more clearly a character is established in the park, through the ride content, the signage and the staff, the more guests will want to take it home.

Where merchandise is sold affects how much is sold. Shops at the exit catch guests as they leave. Kiosks near popular attractions catch them in the moment. A shop that looks like part of the theme invites guests to walk in, and one that looks like an afterthought does not. The master plan can place sales points deliberately, and the merchandising plan decides what each one offers. See Master Planning.

Parks that combine an amusement park, a water park, an aquarium and a snow park, as Fun World does, face a particular challenge: merchandise has to work for all of them. A single theme makes this simpler, because one set of characters and one look can run through every shop. Mast Parks offered merchandising options at Fun World as part of bringing the four attractions under one theme. Guests then see one brand, and the park sells one range.