Hello fellow Tessiturians! Posted this to the Marketing forum last week but didn't see any responses, so here's another go...
Just an informal questionnaire for you all.
Do you have a lobby gift shop? Or some other form of merchandising operation? Who manages it? Marketing? Ticketing? FOH? What kind of "stuff" is the most popular?
We are slowly but surely trying to introduce a gift shop to our lobby but at this point, we're not sure who should be in charge of it and what kinds of things it should have. There is a great grassroots effort on the part of our production artisans to sell their own creations, but there is also a desire to have Rep-branded merch and show-specific merch.
Any suggestions or pointers would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Patrick SchleyMarketing & Sales ManagerMilwaukee Repertory Theaterpschley@milwaukeerep.com
Hello Patrick,
Our gift shop used to be run by a woman who essentially "rented" the space and made all purchasing decisions.
It is currently run by FOH, who report to the Director of Marketing. Staffing is through our volunteers. Purchase decisions are made by FOH - We have some house-branded materials, we will stock with production-specific merchandise (which depending on the show can sometimes sell like crazy), we sell CDs on behalf of some of the artists who perform in our productions (settlements here are done through our Finance Department), we sell sculptures and paintings from local artisans (though nothing to date has come from our in-house production staff), but what sells the most is jewellery - especially trendy or "funky" stuff, mostly earrings and necklaces.
Payment methods include cash, credit, debit and gift cards. A future project is to integrate the shop into Tessitura and our website.
Having formerly been our House Manager, this was one of my responsibilities and just so you are aware it can be a time-consuming responsibility, depending on the responsibilities and size of your staff. We are trying to have more volunteer involvement in sourcing out product, as this is what can really take up your time. Similar to Christy, the shop for one of my former employers was run entirely by their volunteer organization who acted as a fundraising arm and donated proceeds from sales at the end of each fiscal year.
Duane