The Tale of Two Tracks

I recently visited several stores in a local mall. Two stops in particular drew a startling contrast.

 The first represented what many would consider to be a typical retail hobby shop. The store consisted mainly of shelves filled with boxes of model race cars, board games, and the like. The window display, while nice, contained an assorted mish-mash of merchandise with no apparent theme.

 In one corner of this store, a small table held two small cars completing endless laps on a circular snap-together track. There were no controllers to operate the cars - they apparently were set to "demo" mode. Toward the back, an employee manned the register while another roamed the shop floor, occasionally asking that most cringe-inducing line in all of retail: “Can I help you?”. To which, of course, I replied, “No. Just looking.” Needless to say I quickly exited after a few minutes, unimpressed and barely noticed by the staff.

 Later that day, I found myself in front of American Hot Rod Racer where I encountered a completely different kind of toy store.

 My first clue that this was not a typical retail store: the storefront windows clearly were not intended to display merchandise or “stuff”. Rather, the windows were there to provide an unhindered view of the live action inside the store.

 Inside, the focus wasn’t on shelves of pre-packaged toys or models in shrink-wrapped boxes. Center stage was occupied by a real, working racetrack -- easily 50 feet around and three feet wide, with dips and S-curves along the way. Three enthralled boys and one beaming grownup (Dad perhaps?) were racing their newly-built remote control toy cars, swerving and passing each other with great abandon. Several other people looked on,  pulling for the drivers or clutching their own racers.

 Along the sides of the store, well-lit themed displays showed a wide variety of car parts, tools, and accessories to create and build hot rods. Toward the back, several kids proudly assembled the custom-built racers they themselves had designed, occasionally getting advice from employees who collective called themselves the “Pit Crew”.

 For the next hour, I watched races and chatted with racers (they don't call them customers!) and employees. I learned the store hosts frequent for-fee birthday parties -- starting at $250 and going to $600…and up! In addition the store holds regularly scheduled racing events for both adults and kids of all skill levels. Competition at these races is fierce, one member of the Pit Crew told me, and the store sees significant sales from racers upgrading their cars -- or building new ones -– as they pursue the checkered flag for the next race.

American Hot Rod Racer is NOT in the goods or services business. They are in the experience business. The cars are merely props. The races are the real offering, driving demand for the store’s goods – over and over again. One key measurement supporting this observation: the total square footage allocated for building and racing cars far exceeds the space dedicated to the sale of the physical goods!

 For any organization in the business of providing goods or services, American Hot Rod Racer provokes a worthy question: What revenue-generating experience or portfolio of experiences could you stage in order to generate increased demand for your offerings – over and over again? Companies able to successfully answer that question will be well on their way to Victory Lane.