merchandise strategy

Orlando, Wednesday, 3 December 2025.
Last Tuesday Universal Destinations & Experiences published a briefing on the Universal Kids Resort in Orlando that emphasizes attractions, live shows and F&B—but most intriguingly reveals a tightly integrated merchandise strategy by Universal Products & Experiences designed to drive per‑cap spend and extend IP engagement beyond ride footprints. For retail professionals, the disclosure signals merch-first programming: park-specific toys, plushes and collectible lines timed to dayparts, retail-linked food & beverage concepts, and content-driven retail activations intended to lengthen stays and diversify revenue. Operational consequences include new staffing profiles focused on themed retail, guest-flow engineering that prioritizes retail touchpoints, SKU development cycles aligned with programming, and cross-property marketing to amplify drops and collectibles. Planners should prepare for experiential merchandising, demand for curated collectible mechanics, and the need to measure merchandise as a primary lever for visitation patterns and per‑guest economics.

Shanghai, Friday, 26 September 2025.
Last Wednesday, Shanghai Disneyland rolled out an exclusive Mickey & Friends travel capsule across resort retail, a park‑only assortment of totes and travel accessories explicitly designed for inbound and domestic travelers. For retail planners and licensing teams, the most striking detail is the deliberate use of region‑specific, limited‑run IP to create scarcity while testing price elasticity for travel‑oriented SKUs — a tactic aimed at raising per‑capita retail spend and accelerating SKU velocity. Operationally, this raises immediate questions about allocation between storefronts and online channels, seasonal lead times, and how sell‑through will correlate with recent attendance and hotel occupancy patterns. Tracking secondary‑market signaling and cross‑channel uplift will be critical to judge effectiveness and inform future capsule rollouts. The release underscores a broader park retail strategy: integrate merchandise into the guest journey rather than treating it as standalone impulse buys, using exclusive collections as levers for segmentation and revenue optimisation.