Where there are people, there are customers and there is the opportunity for retail.
The world-wide trail of tourist destinations is opening up the potential of this phenomenon, satisfying the daily demands of its millions of open-mouthed, empty stomached, hungry, thirsty, time-starved, cash-rich customers who pass through their historical doors day-on-day.
Turning a horrible history on its head, the Tower of London has embarked on a military scale manoeuvre to win the hearts of its multi-lingual masses, and open up the drawbridges to their purse-strings, with rapier precision.
Commercial enterprise here is no blunt weapon bludgeoning the unwitting, but has been built on the development of excellent assortments, taste and variety to suit every opportunity, and a stealth store location strategy planning every attack from armoury to pantry, battlements to condiments.
The early bird catches the worm, and the Tower of London has cleverly converted the ever-presence of its famous “ravens” into a vibrant brand, spreading its commercial wings over merchandise, meals, cafes and its very own shop. Brought to brimming life through t-shirts, soft-toys, animations and brand collaborations the raven holds a magnetic attraction for the kings and queens of impulse purchase.
The icing on the commercial powder cake is a newly opened eatery, cleverly combining an expanded interior for thousands, with the best food that the markets of London can offer, bringing buns from Borough, sandwiches from Smithfield, and fresh fayre from the greens of New Covent Garden to the barnacled boats of Old Billingsgate.
Subsidised shadows are now just history, as the Tower of London emerges from the dark ages, leveraging the power of the past to propel its proposition into a bright new prosperous future.
Are you awake to the opportunities of retail in a non-retail destination?
Do you have a product assortment fit and appropriate to maximise your sales potential?
VM-unleashed has worked with a number of tourist and leisure destinations to plan retail strategies, build impulse assortments and deliver additional income and profit.
For more information…
tim.radley@vm-unleashed.com
VM-unleashed monitors and celebrates best practice such as the Tower of London, to advise our clients and make them more profitable.