WHAT’S HOT – SHOWCASE and CRANE IDEAS – GREAT REDEMPTION COUNTERS

Here’s the Ticket!

The key to making money in this industry is to have prizes that the public wants and have high perceived values. Choosing the right prizes (and displaying them properly) takes guidance from people who spend full time in this sector and enjoy staying on top of the latest trends. The other key is to purchase these top prizes at fair prices.

Alpha-Omega Amusements

Top Crane Prizes Used by Alpha-Omega Amusements this Month

– Any and all size Minions Plush
– 9.5″ Minions – $4.26 Each
– 14.5″ – 16″ Movie Set Minions – $9.50 each for Monster Crane
– 6″ Beanie Balls Small – $5.00 each
– Hoberman Spheres 6.7″ – 13.4″ – $3.15 each (Sureshot Redemption Item #C01152)

Rhode Island Novelty

Aside from selling redemption toys, RI Novelty is in the forefront for offering marketing and merchandising ideas to clients as well as non-clients.

Sign up to receive the monthly redemption and merchandising tips, as offered below:

Redemption TIP #15 – Wantable & Winnable: 6 items every redemption display should offer:

Our tips are geared towards suggestions that will help make you more successful. We have not previously used this forum to directly sell our products. This month we’re going to deviate from that model in order to provide you with some examples of our philosophy in regards to always steering our redemption customers towards prizes that meet two basic criteria:

• The prize is something that customers would WANT – interactive, novel, fun, good value
• The prize is something that your customers can WIN – achievable in 1-2 visits

This month, we are sharing with you six prizes (or prize categories) that have proven to be extremely successful for our customers. These products were chosen based on the number of times ordered and total units sold over a four-month period.

If you are not carrying these items (or like products), consider stocking these type of prizes to observe whether the products’ appeal increases play.

1. Umbrellas: Kids are loving these unique prizes. Moms like them as well for their usefulness for school age kids. They are colorful, large and attractive in a display.
2. Headphones: Our neon headphones quickly became bestsellers. Eye catching color, good quality, appealing packaging and an excellent price.
3. Disco Bulb ELDISBU: Turns any room into a party atmosphere. Display in counter only, showing both the box and the item so customers can see that it fits a standard bulb fixture.
4. Moon Blasters: A long time super item, now in 3 colors.
5. Rainbow Balls SBRAI18: Colorful, big & bright. The most eye catching ball in your display. Alternate with 18” knobby balls on your back wall for a winning combination.
6. Earbuds: We all use them and we all lose them. Great packaging and perceived value, excellent price. A counter item with the same upside as larger headphones.

These products have done very well this year for all of our customers. If you’d like to see our most recent list of 100 bestselling items broken down by ticket value, click here. Please call me if you would like to discuss how to make your prize selection compelling, wantable and winnable!

Visit their website at www.rinovelty.com for more information, or call them at 800-528.5599.

HMS Monaco

HMS Monaco has a full line-up of merchandise coming for the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens, Episode 7, that will be opening on 12/18/15. They believe that this will be the big hit for the fourth quarter that everyone will be looking for. Their line will include Star Wars plush and novelties for the upcoming movie.

For more information, please call us at 800-777-0901 or visit www.hmsmonaco.com

Sureshot Redemption

SURESHOT TOP SELLERS

Sureshot is moving into Fall with items that fit into the Halloween theme, but without being “Halloween” only so they’ll work all throughout the season and beyond as well.

And Sureshot is continuing to promote their In-House imprinting with very low minimums on items right from their stock of popular redemption and gift items. This means turnaround time is minimal and prices are reasonable so call or email for more information today.

Top 10 List for this quarter:

11496 Kitty Cat Headband 6.5″
25560 Super Soft Mystical Dragon 9″
25612 Wooden Kendama 6.5″
26007 Hoberman Ball (3 Asst.) 6.75″
26022 Light-up Spinning Galaxy Blaster 9″
26148 Despicable Me Minion K/C 2″ (12 Asst)
26149 Minion Goggles 7.75″
33615 Desk Top Cherry Blossom Tree 18″
33807 Light- Up Fantasy Sword w/ Sound 32.5″
36351 (Small – L) Despicable Me Minions (3 Asst.) 6.5″

For more information, call 888.887.8738 or visit www.sureshot-redemption.com.

Here’s the Ticket!

The Top 60 Redemption & Merchandiser Games Combined List is put together from actual collections from games owned and operated by Alpha-Omega Amusements at three locations so I know that the data is correct and is not changed in any way. The purpose of the List is for you to see where your current games place or rank and see where other games that you do not have would rank in your facility. The List also gives you the information to see trends, see which games are cannibalized when a new game is introduced, and helps you stay on top of your game. Video games are not included but TRR now shows Jurassic Park and Typhoon Lagoon, as these are the best two video games in the industry.

New Test Games Included in the rankings in order of earnings:
SpongeBob Pineapple Arcade, Fishbowl Frenzy, Whack n Win, Grand Piano Keys, Ocean Pearl, Kung Fu Panda, Gold Fishing, Black Hole, Full Tilt, Gear It Up, Pop-A-Ball, and Candy Crush. Shown in 2nd Test Location are Fishbowl Frenzy, Gold Fishing, and Hungry Chickens. Shown in 3rd Test Location are Black Hole, Jurassic Park (Video), Full Tilt, Graveyard Smash, Hop Star, Yahtzee, and Three Stooges.

New Test Games Scheduled for Next TRR:
Crossy Road (Adrenaline)
Where’s My Crown-Upgrade for Fruit Ninja) Adrenaline
Angry Birds Arcade (ICE)
Pink Panther (ICE/Raw Thrills)

Trend Analysis of Top 60 Redemption & Merchandise Games Combined

The July-Aug. 2015 the data shows SpongeBob as the only new game ranking in the combined Top 10 (#3 overall, #3 in redemption). Five new games are grouped closely together in the ranking from #13 to #18: Fishbowl Frenzy, Whack N Win, Grand Piano Keys, Ocean Pearl, and Kung Fu Panda. All 5 games have had consistently high earnings over the past several months but SpongeBob stole the show (See Breaking News for complete coverage on SpongeBob).

Mega Triple Crane grabbed the #1 ranking for Merchandise Dispensing mainly because one of its three bays was converted to tickets. This had a slight effect on the revenues of both the Knock It Off Rotary (Tickets) and the Candy Crane with Tickets, however both of these games still ranked in the Top 8 overall and remain in the Top 4 Merchandiser category.

The 2nd an 3rd Test Location shows that when a Top 20 game is added to a location that does not have so many of the other new games, these games can rank at the very top for a few months and are very good investments. Test Location #1 is important because it shows the ‘workhorse’ games that are the backbone of a games operations. It also shows which games get cannibalized when a new game is added. This is critical information to have when making future game buying and selling/trade in decisions. There are many great games in the Top 60 to choose from. Top 30-60 are all candidates to buy reconditioned at reduced prices. Many are great long term additions.

UPDATE:  TRR just received the first week’s revenue from Crossy Road that was set up on 8-25-15. Crossy Road grossed $1,480 at 37%, slightly outearning Fishbowl Frenzy’s $1,428. SpongeBob grossed $2,582. TRR will provide full comparisons in the next issue.