By: Tabatha Bender, Redemption Plus
These small things aren’t so small
For many FEC businesses, the person in charge of setting budgets is different from the person actually placing the redemption orders. This also may be different from the person physically merchandising the product. You’re probably thinking this is no big deal, but it potentially creates a harmful perception breakdown… Here’s what we mean 👇
When you order redemption products on our website you pay in dollars. Real cash money. When it arrives at your door, the value of the items has changed to tickets. This value perception shift between order placement and arrival often leads to the mistreatment and neglect of your redemption inventory. Many understand the importance of maintaining inventory for high-end prizes (because they cost a lot), but not everyone values bin items in terms of money. Why should you care?
The bin space of your redemption area is important because of its likely to be a part of each one of your customer’s experiences. The ticket range of these prizes makes it possible for a 5-year-old to redeem prizes out of bins. It’s also possible a 15-year-old will redeem a bin item when she has only 60 tickets left after redeeming a higher-ticketed item.
With this broad audience in mind, you should prioritize your bin space as highly as the cleanliness of your restrooms. How do you do that?
1 | Keep bins fresh
You’ll want to keep new options rotating in your bin selection to appease repeat guests. This is also your chance to shine with originality. Many bin trinkets can only be found at family entertainment centers, which gives your guests an exciting choice to make.
Shop for new, novel bin prizes that are sure to set you apart. Keep in mind you’ll need a good range of ticket values to satisfy those redeeming within this range. 👇
While you want new and original options, it’s a good idea to include the classics, too. Remember that point about selection uniqueness? Where else can you get an army man beside an FEC? (Well, and Amazon — Amazon has everything…). Add in the new rubber ducky assortment, light up aliens, and squeeze chickens, but don’t forget army men, monkey barrel game and disappearing ink. These are items FEC guests have come to love over the years. They’re classic options that will always perform well for your assortment.
2 | Keep bins organized
The next crucial piece of maintaining your bins is keeping them organized. You do this by keeping an optimized item assortment that is physically organized by ticket value in your bins.
For those who aren’t DIY savvy, we have Storyboards to help you. These storyboards populate an item assortment that includes both novel and classic bin options at the quantities you’d need to fill a standard bin. We have storyboards for 24, 36, and 48 bin counts. Below is an example of the 36-bin layout. *Don’t forget to update ticket values as needed.
To order any of the bin storyboards, just head to our Storyboard Catalog and pick your bin count accordingly.
You’ll also want to keep your bins organized by ticket value from top to bottom and left to right — with the highest-ticketed item in the bottom right. As you can see from the pictures above, it’s a good idea to organize by section as well to keep customers running up and down the length of your bin counter.
3 | Keep bins clean and full
Seems pretty simple, right? Believe it or not, this is often overlooked. If the glass on your bin display is dirty customers are turned off — making them believe the prizes themselves are dirty or not worth the ticket investment.
While the product is out of the bins for your monthly inventory count, it’s the perfect time to wipe down the inside and outside of the bins. In addition, we suggest cleaning the bin’s display case glass daily.
Bin space sitting empty will also turn away customers. Ensuring bins are well stocked each day is crucial to a good return on investment for this product. It’s the same principle as keeping pegs on your wall fully stocked.
For other bin and merchandising tips, you can take our free, online Merchandising 101 course. If you’re a current customer of Redemption Plus you can also opt-in to one of our service packages for exclusive training content for all things redemption. Learn more here.