The Walt Disney Company is opening experimental new stores in malls with giant screens showing interactive birthday greetings and events streamed from its famous theme parks.
The Walt Disney company has unveiled 4 of 6 planned stores with the new look, reports Bloomberg.
A giant video screen in the front of the shop is the centrepiece of the new look stores.
Guests celebrating a birthday can have Donald Duck and friends sing to them, with their photo featured on the screen.
In the afternoon, guests can sit on seat cushions and watch a live feed of Disneyland’s daily parade down Main Street. In the future, the stores will even have a cotton candy cart where customers can buy mouse ears and snacks – really giving visitors the feeling of being in the park.
The company began work on the store redesign about 16 months ago. The company previously remodelled their stores in 2010. Those new stores included a small castle and sections designed for specific brands such as princesses.
The Disney company has about 340 retail locations around the world. Lower foot traffic at malls and a flight to online shopping has affected Disney like it has many other retailers.
Sales in Disney’s retail unit fell 6 percent to $1.71 billion in the fiscal year that ended in October 2016 and 10 percent, to $1.21 billion, in the nine months of 2017.
The hit movies “Frozen” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” sparked a shopping frenzy for Disney – but there has not been a movie lately that has prompted the same response.
Image courtesy of the Walt Disney Company.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-26/disney-s-fix-for-retail-slump-stream-theme-park-events-in-store
