Build-a-Bear workshop, I remember years ago they would put identifying barcodes inside the plush toy bears customers would make together with them that could be used to find lost bears. But optical barcodes put inside the stuffed bear, they require all the stuffing to be taken out of the bear to find the barcode and read it, yuck. Surely, they’re using a less invasive solution now where they put an RFID inside the bear, right? Wrong, they are still stuck on old-fashioned barcodes.
20200505/DuckDuckGo build-a-bear workshop rfid
20200505/DuckDuckGo build-a-bear workshop identification
20200505/https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20060926005731/en/Build-A-Bear-Workshop-Find-A-Bear-ID-Program-Helps-Reunite
Nevertheless, one thing good they’ve been doing is partnering specifically with Hotel companies to get Find-a-Bear rolling. It’s pretty tough when you’re the only game in town providing a service to find lost objects that nobody else really cares about, so this really speaks to trying to make the system more successful in the event of lost plush toys.
This is interesting, Build-a-Bear workshop got a new CEO who started making changes to the store to bring it back to profitability. The company before wasn’t doing anything wrong, it just got to a point that many companies get to when growing and being run by the founder Maxine Clark: it grew past the abilities of the original founder. Unwilling to make changes, the company was slipping away from its previous position of strength.
The changes? Focus more on tourism locations where tourists are willing to buy more, pay more, and more in it for the experience, close down unprofitable stores, focus more on media franchising which brings lots of repeat business (gotta keep buying new toys every single time a new movie is released, and gotta watch all the movies), focus more effort to branding and marketing toys in styles that are more appealing to boys like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Interestingly, the previous store as it was being run had a tendency to attract lots of girl customers but not very many boy customers. Yes, the novelty of the ideas of Build-a-Bear workshop was great for getting the business started, but if left running that way it leaves an obvious market gap untapped.
20200505/https://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/04/build-a-bear-isnt-just-a-store-anymore.html