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[Javey74]

Disney are missing key areas in their merchandising and because of this they must be losing thousands..  :roll:

I come to notice this more so after my last visit to DLP in March 2012. I was glad to see the boutiques selling things like camera cases, IPhone Covers, laptop covers, mouse mats as well as other gadgetary products. Only to come home and visit my local Disney Store and find it stocked out with loads of Penguin Club, Playhouse Disney and Muppets merchandise..  :shock:

I spoke to the Manager of the store asking why they do not branch out into the items like I've mentioned above and start and sell more adult orientated merchandise. Granted they did have the laptop cases in but they had the Muppets decor on them, which I've got nothing against, but I'm not a great fan of. For some reason Muppets merchandise has taken over, this never happened with Marvel merchandise..  :roll:

I'm aware that you can buy a lot of other merchandise online but it's not the easiest way of obtaining items with delivery charges and that..  

Simply... In the last financial review of DLP, guest spending was up from the previous quarter, if you analyse this closer a lot of the spend is on adult products. That should have given Disney the answer of target marketing. But NO...  :evil:

In the UK stores they continue to sell over amounts of merchandise targeted at kids, they have too much on sale for the young and really young.  Any adult products that do appear tend to be only at Christmas time and even that is very limited..  :roll:

Do they do this deliberate because they want you to visit the parks and not just shop in their stores and so limited the stock available to buy in store. I know for a fact that in my local store if you took all of the nursery, Penguin Club, Playhouse Disney and the Muppets merchandise out there would be hardly anything in. They need to cater much more for the adult market..  :|

Another example I'll use is this.... As you may realise I'm a jigsaw fan. I bought two 1000 Piece ones while at DLP, again in the UK stores there are none, apart from a 1000 Piece 'Beauty and the Beast' at Christmas a few years back, but that was it. If they do sell jigsaws it's normally 24 piece ones, again for kids..  :roll:

Where are the watches, jewellery, jackets, hats, scarfs, gloves, ties, socks etc. You may see some of these items once in a blue moon, again usually at Christmas if you are lucky. If they put them on sale a lot more over the year I'm sure that they would sell loads and make a lot more money, especially if it's for an adult as it usually costs more. Also, when they do sell adult items usually clothes I've noticed they cater more for Women as in slippers, nighties, t-shirts. You'd be lucky to get a t-shirt for a man. Where is the equality here..  :roll:

Disney really need to heed the idea that Disney products are not just for kids but for adults aswell, after all it's us adults that spend the money. I really cannot understand why they maintain this young marketing approach all the time. They are missing out on the adult markets..  :roll:

In our local store I'd say that 80% is for kids, 15% nursery age and 5% adult..  [-(

You would have to go to DLP to even those percentages up, why do they do it in our UK stores..   :evil: :evil:

[alternativerock123]

I completely understand where you are getting from - I will be honest and say that my Disney store in Nottingham is fairly a large store - but yes the amount of adult theme merch is very little.

In my store, we have a lot of "sections" for characters - one wall for Tangled Ever After, one for fairies ect. However I have also noticed myself the decline of adult/teen merch such as t-shirts. I have been lucky in the past to have purchased over 3 t-shirts from the store for myself however whenever I go with my friend Ashley, he always becomes disgruntled because he can never buy a tshirt as their are non for men. He has to revert to buying one from Primark. Even so I haven't bought a t-shirt in a long time as they don't do them any more.

But yes I feel like the only merch they have for adults in my store is the perfume (which some of them smell terrible) and sometimes a few bags. But again - only for women. (Which of course I don't mind, lol)

BUT! I am however thankful for the decline in Highschool musical and Hannah Montanna merch as it was the most dominate about a year/2 years ago and even playing the awful music - now they seem to have A LOT of toys (I dont mind) but yeah - I was just looking at the adult section and all those lovely bags and ear-rings would be nice to have in store.

I also found it shocking how little they even had in the Oxford store last year, it was about 80% kids with 70% of that for Princesses.

I do get where you are coming from - the parks having their "own" line of merch so people most likely keep going back. IE. PINS! My store used to have them, now I see one every now and then.
Even with the new 20th merch, I said would my store get any in and they said no. But I think that would be a good marketing tool. However you have to remember that DLP has to cater for the entire of Europe - so a range of merch, the UK stores most likely only sell was gets bought and what is deemed "popular" over here compared to France or Germany.

Still annoying though....

[SwipatronSparks]

i agree as well my local disney store was a fairly decent size but it moved.... and while the new store is beautiful im certain its smaller.... mostly due to the decor.... (they really went all out i will have to try and get some pictures or something) one side is all princesses and the other side is mainly cars, marvel and muppets, with the cuddly toys and stuff that falls under 'other characters (such as pooh and minnie) at the back of the store..... but other than cups there is very little if anything for adults there.... they do quite well with pj's around christmas but that seems to be all we get.... (works well for me becuase i always get new pjs for christmas)

[junglebaggie]

I used to work at my local Disney store and was always buying stuff for myself, clothes, purses, snowglobes, pins etc.   They moved to a much smaller store and continued with the pins but the amount of mechandise on offer was reduced considerably.  They are now at another store in the mall which is bigger but like everyone else has posted, no adult goodies and they no longer sell pins either, which was a great blow to me as I collect them!   Not everyone wants to spend money on postage buying via the web so come on Disney Store, get your act together and remember us adults!

[Javey74]

I also found it shocking how little they even had in the Oxford store last year, it was about 80% kids with 70% of that for Princesses.

Funnily enough I went there the end of November 2011 expecting a lot more variety than the MetroCentre. I was also dissapointed with what I saw, it was London after all..  :shock:  :shock:  

I agree with junglebaggie's statement about having to buy online with all the other charges that go with it, we should not be forced into having to use this service to get what we want..  

I am also currently doing a survey that links up with this thread in my local area about adult merchandise and peoples preferences about what they would buy. I will share my findings once I get them all collated. I am also going to hand my findings over to the Disney Store Management team at their headquarters. Hopefully I will get some response, otherwise I will keep pestering them..  :mrgreen:

[SwipatronSparks]

not sure if this is going slightly off topic....but @javey i do live near you i will fill in a survey for you if you like =]

[Javey74]

not sure if this is going slightly off topic....but @javey i do live near you i will fill in a survey for you if you like =]

Yeah thanks SwipatronSparks, it might be easier if I email it over to you, it's on a word document. Just fill in the boxes as best as you can, maybe easier colouring them, then where the info lines are just delete them and type in what you want to say, then just email it back. Saves postage I suppose..  :mrgreen:

Just PM me your email address..    

P.S I'll not be able to send it till Monday though as it's on my Works Computer..  :mrgreen:

[DisneyIsALifestyle]

i would love for the UK Disney Stores to have as much on offer as the American stores, as i looked at their website and they sell ALOT for adults and teens compared to here. I visited my local store and i was disgusted how little there was, there was some perfume(which smelt awful btw) and some mugs, which were mostly Disney Princess anyway and i'm not too keen on them. It was all Tinkerbell and Tangled, which isn't fun when you're a hardcore Peter Pan fanatic   anyway i would love to have as much as the American stores do, including the Wonderland tea and Vinylmation figures!

[Javey74]

That's very true looking at the American Stores. A good and valid point which Disney Stores over here need to pay attention to..  :|

[Lani]

I was just on the website ordering the Ariel pin and because of the half price shipping I was looking for some more stuff to order to make the most of it and was stumped. There really isn't a great deal of merch that as a (young) adult you could justify buying. I would say I'm more of a soft collector and apart from pins I only really buy Disney Princess and Marie products but even in DLP I found it quite hard to find things that weren't for young children. (And I'm not really into dolls and I already have too many plushies now). The only products I buy regularly at the UK Disney stores are socks as I have quite small feet and fit into the childrens one.

I think the problem is with the economy the way it is a retailer (even one as big as Disney) is not going to want to take any risks. The decrease and eventual end of pins being sold in store and the lack of adult products is unfortunatly probably the result of low demand because despite the fact that there are people buying them, I'm sure there are some statistics somewhere that show that the demand isn't great enough for the costs involved with supply. As the stores have recently gone through a rebranding (where I live anyway) I doubt they will be making any other big changes in the future which is unfortunate. I'm a business student and am just finishing up a brand portfolio on WDW and through all the research I've been reading through there is great potential for sales in merchandise I just think it would need a major overhaul which is unlikely in this economy.

[orsie]

Ok so this is sort of different, but I am a teen (well 12) boy and I completely agree with all of you, the products are geared too much toward young children. I love pins and vinylmation and I am disgusted to find absolutely no pins and vinylmation shoved to ONE shelf near the counter. They need more teen clothing in my opinion, I still fit into the 11-12 stuff but the designs are too babyish. I was trying on an Agent P shirt (I love P&F), which was quite a cool design only to find that it had an annoying rubber logo on the side and a FELT beak. Babyish or what? Also we want to the store on Oxford Street very recently, expecting to find all the Vinyls they have on their site and funnily enough they had LESS than Southampton, yes LESS!!!!! They also had no Phineas and Ferb stand (which they had and Southampton and Cheltenham), just a few plushes at the back. I loved the shop (as we just went to see the decoration in the shop whilst at the Olympics) but merchandising wise it wasn't much different to any of the other Disney Stores i have been to.

[Javey74]

Yes orsie your comments do not suprise me at all, especially surrounding the Oxford Street Store in London..  :roll:

Thanks for your input on this thread..    

[orsie]

No Problem

[gaston1986]

I am angry that maleficent adult t shirt s are just  in ladies design. Can't. Guys love the mistress of all evil  I want a guys t shirt with her. Its not as if its belle