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Creative gifts bring booming business for museum shops
2010/07/26 15:56:50 |
Visitors to the National Palace Museum (NPM) crowd into the museum's gift shop searching for "treasures." One woman initially examines keychains with a design imitating the famous Ching dynasty "Jadeite Cabbage with Insects, " but then turns her attention to silk bed linen imprinted with the famous painting "Along the River During the Ching-ming Festival."
"These products are very creative and have delicate designs, and more importantly, I will not find them elsewhere," said another tourist.
The number of tourists visiting the National Palace Museum in Taipei has grown rapidly in the past two years. According to government data, the NPM attracted more than 2 million visitors from home and abroad last year. "Most of them are from China, followed by Japan," according to an NPM official.
The tourists have brought booming business to the NPM's gift shop; revenue last year reached NT$510 million, and compared to the previous year, revenue for the first half of this year was up 21 percent, according to Ho Chun-huan, managing director of the gift shop.
"Those items featuring the `Jadeite Cabbage with Insects' are always our best-sellers. The top-selling items are mobile phone straps, with more than 2.4 million sold last year, followed by chopstick-rests, 850,000 of which were sold, and in third place wind chimes, with 580,000 sold," Ho told CNA.
In terms of preferences, Ho said Japanese tourists favor Taiwanese cakes and snacks, while European tourists prefer replicas of pottery and bronze artworks. Chinese tourists tend to go for keychains with the cabbage design, while others like golden foil paintings and jewelry.
With almost 4,000 items developed by the museum, there is a wide range of prices. "We have gifts priced from NT$100, but we also have high-end jewelry costing more than NT$1 million," Ho said.
In addition to the NPM, the gift shops at the National Theater and Concert Hall (NTCH) are also popular places for those seeking special gifts from Taiwan.
"Most of our customers come here mainly for the shows, but the two shops located on the main floor of the National Concert Hall are also popular for people seeking exclusive gifts related to the performing arts," an NTCH official said.
"A practice of the shop is to develop new items, some of which originate from new programs or are related to the performing arts, and some talented young designers have been invited to sell their work in the shop, " said Regina Lin, who is in charge of developing new items for the shop, which is called "Art Space."
The shop keeps records of the top 10 best-selling items each month, so that they can keep abreast of changing customer preferences and adjust their stock accordingly, said Hsieh Mo-chin, a specialist in the Business and Services Development Department of the NTCH.
The top item on June's best-seller list was a folder bearing pictures of two of the hall's vertical gardens, according to Lin.
Lacquerware is also popular and never fails to draw attention from shoppers, said Lin, adding that even though some of the other items are expensive, including one piece of jewelry priced at more than NT$150,000, the unique, high quality products attract both local and foreign shoppers.
"Other target customers are private companies and government offices, and officials from the Presidential Office sometimes shop here for gifts for foreign guests," Lin said.
The National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall is another popular spot, especially among Chinese tourists, and in order to attract buyers, many of the gifts in its shop feature subject matter unavailable in China.
"The most popular item in the shop is a DVD about the lives of the late presidents Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang Ching-kuo, " said shop official Christine Chu.
A set of stamps featuring Sun Yat-sen, as well as sets of Taiwanese coins, are also hot sellers, " Chu said.
With its strong historical connection for Chinese visitors, the hall has become a must-see attraction for them and the sense of connection can also be seen in their gift preferences. "One popular item is a set of dolls depicting the former leaders on both sides of the Taiwan Strait -- Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong -- shaking hands, " she said, adding that this item is probably popular because such a scene would never have been possible in the real world. By Sunnie Chen, CNA staff reporter/J
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