I got lucky in Central City
by Glenn Alsup
When I was growing up our family would go to Virginia Beach every year for summer vacations. One highlight was going to the boardwalk, where my dad would reluctantly buy us all t-shirts. Selling souvenirs must have been quite a business since there were always a lot of shops to choose from. My father didn’t really mind what we picked out, I just remember proudly showing off my new attire when we returned home.
Marketers might label this type of purchase as “impulsive buying behavior” and when you think about it, there’s really no reason to purchase this sort of thing if you aren’t at the destination. This got me thinking about Central City and my guess is that the casinos experience this phenomenon too.
I recently saw a shirt with the heading “I got lucky in Central City”. It’s a clever motto, but you probably have to be in Central City to buy a shirt like this. I guess there might be the possibility that an affiliation with gambling or the play-on-words could be enough to drive this purchase, but I speculate that most of these shirts have been acquired free of charge.
So what does this have to do with Opera? Well, we recently updated the Central City Opera online gift shop with souvenirs using images from this season’s performances. So naturally, I wondered if the same impulsive buying behaviors apply? Would you come to the web site and purchase a “Susannah” t-shirt to show off your affiliation with the opera? My guess is no, especially if you had not seen the opera yet.
Select the image above or HERE to go to the online gift shop now.
What if you were given the opportunity to purchase a souvenir during the process of buying your ticket? My guess is the likelihood would increase dramatically; in fact, I can imagine a time when you could go online, purchase a performance, select your seats, add a shirt, print your ticket, arrive at opera and have the usher deliver your souvenir while you wait for the opera to start?
Combining the gift store with ticket buying is about convenience and removing obstacles in the transactional path. We live in an on-demand world and the internet can be used in so many powerful ways to support the one-to-one paradigm. I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts on this matter. In the meantime, feel free to look over the new apparel on the Central City Opera web site and online store!
July 14, 2008 at 10:58 am
I’m a bit more interested in parking than in a souvenir T-shirt. The Baltimore Opera sells me a parking space if I want it with my opera ticket, and that’s really a pleasant thing to know is all settled in advance. Whereas a T-shirt for an opera I haven’t even seen yet seems unnecessary.
When I attend opera, I mostly see gray and white hair in the audience. I am not sure that people of that age wear T-shirts much, if at all, another reason the purchase of one while buying tickets seems iffy.
Then there’s the issue of combining types of experiences. When I call to buy a ticket, I am thinking seating and calendar and parking, not consumer goods. I suppose if you offered a discount for buying the shirt combined with the ticket, you might increase shirt sales. Opera being what it is, you probably make a profit on the shirts, but not the tickets.