Cashing in on fun

December 16, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

The Microsoft Store in Oak Park Mall in Kansas City, Mo., has product advisers to help customers with some hands-on experience with its products. Product Adviser Drew Ramsey, left, shows off the Windows phone to Megan Kahler.

The Kansas City Star

Just putting a price on a product and sticking it on a shelf is so old school.

And with consumers buying more each year online, brick-and-mortar retailers are working harder to add entertainment to their mix — from American Girl’s scavenger hunts to the Art of Shaving’s product demonstrations.

These experiences are something consumers can’t get from online shopping, so they drive traffic to the stores and keep customers there longer. They also build brand loyalty.

“You can buy a product just about everywhere. They are trying to add a different element so it is not just about the product,” said Wendy Liebmann, chief executive officer of WSL/Strategic Retail, retail strategists and futurists based in New York. “They are giving people a reason to play — like Converse, where you can customize your sneaker — making it worth it to go into the store. A sense of place and a place to stay.”

Retailers have been using entertainment to attract shoppers for years, from mall carousels to the Great Mall of America’s whole amusement park. But with advances in technology and growing pressure from online competition, more retailers are adding interactive attractions inside their stores.

Savvy retailers engage customers with entertainment options, from watching to fully participating.

For 40 years, Bass Pro Shops has stayed open on Thanksgiving Day, drawing customers out after they have downed their Thanksgiving dinner for family-friendly attractions — free photos in Santa’s Wonderland, aquariums that re-create scenes from a local lake and free rides. Or as one customer put it, a “few free hours of entertainment.” And the shops have free special events year-round.

Bass Pro Shops customers enter through a turnstile, just as they do for attractions.

“We’re the Disney World of outdoor stores — a natural-history museum of the area they are in, an aquarium, an art gallery with all the beautiful murals, antiques and conservation education. And oh, by the way, we do retail,” said Larry Whiteley, spokesman for Bass Pro Shops.

Outdoor retail rival Cabela’s knows the game, too. It promotes its museum-quality animal displays and aquariums, along with special events and promotions each weekend.

And another sporting goods competitor, Scheels, has made a mark with its entertaining stores, which it likens to Disneyland. Since the stores added attractions such as Ferris wheels, the company says the average customer stay has increased substantially.

Interactive experiences are a key way American Girl sets its 14 stores apart from other toy stores.

“In terms of the retail environment, it’s what we’ve come to be known for,” said Stephanie Spanos, spokeswoman for American Girl. “At American Girl, it doesn’t just start and end with just a purchase.”

The American Girl events — some free, others with a fee — create memories and build brand loyalties with its young customers.

On Jan. 1, for instance, it will have interactive events to introduce its 2013 Girl of the Year doll, the name a closely guarded secret until it is announced in late December.

Girls will get to go on a scavenger hunt through the store, visiting an area for a free craft and getting a gift to take home. Past gifts have included a poster of the Doll of the Year. This year’s gift is a surprise.

A dozen of the American Girl stores have cafes where customers can dine with their dolls sitting in a “Treat Seat” with their own tiny cup and saucer. They also have little interactive Table Talkers, conversation starters that the girls can use to start discussions with their mothers and grandmothers: What’s your favorite movie? Favorite memory from childhood?

Some consumers might be trying Microsoft products for the very first time when they walk into one of its 60 stores. But they need not be nervous. Microsoft employees are on hand to make the introductions to new products, let them try them out on site and help them work through any technical issues.

“Technology can be very intimidating for some people, so we try to tear down those barriers,” said Microsoft spokesman Lief Knutson. “When they leave and realize they’ve made the right decision, that builds a lot of repeat business.”

Cliff Smith already has his audience at the mention of the word “fudge,” but he holds it with his showmanship — from throwing fudge nearly to the ceiling to his goofy jokes.

Smith has been making fudge professionally for nearly two decades and conducts fudge-making demonstrations at Chip’s Chocolate Factory in Kansas City, Mo.

“The fudge that falls on the floor is dirt cheap,” he tells a giggling group of home-schooled students. “I think we have enough for everyone. Or do we need more?”

“More,” the children shout.

Or as one child said, “This is one of the coolest field trips we have ever done.”

Several of the parents bought more treats on the way out and planned to return, even those who lived in the suburbs and rarely make the trip downtown.

Mike Herman, co-owner of the shop, said traffic is picking up with the addition of nearby attractions such as Legoland and the Sea Life Kansas City Aquarium. Fees for the fudge demonstration are $5 a person. The shop asks that a minimum of 10 participate.

But even when fudge demonstrations aren’t scheduled, customers are entertained with videos of the Food Network’s feature on Chip’s, as well as video on production of its other products.

“When you see someone who has passion for what he does, I think it resonates with you,” Herman said. “It’s not just a product you pick up off the shelf. It means something to you.”