Animatronics Increase Sales

"How a Cowgirl Statue Saved a Business"

There is an article I read quite some time ago where a failing restaurant owner from Texas decided to put a statue of a sexy cowgirl in front of his restaurant in the hopes of drawing the attention of truckers who pass by his restaurant. The cowgirl was dressed in working gear complete with a cowboy hat, boots and short jeans.

Upon installation of the cowgirl statue all sorts of people and not just truckers stopped by at his restaurant to eat. His business increased and after a while his restaurant became profitable again. I read similar articles about businesses putting lifelike statues or other characters that resemble humans in order to attract business.

Statues Especially Animatronics Draw In People

This apparently is a good marketing technique to increase sales. I have seen in real life families whose children literally stopped in their tracks just to gawk at cartoon character statues in shopping malls in front of stores. Even my nieces are not spared from this technique as they would frequently stop at a cartoon character statue just to touch it and have their picture taken with it.

Adults too are not spared from this. You see many adults both in real life and online stopping in their tracks just to have their pictures taken with for example very large superhero statues. These are just non-moving statues but how about moving ones or animatronics? Of course animatronic statues are a bigger draw to customers.

Every Christmas I know of a store who puts on a large animatronic show in front of their store to attract customers passing by their store. The annual event has become so famous that every year it is covered in the media and is considered a special event. The animatronics is not very articulated but this is compensated by its large size and beauty.

This proves that many people are simple at best and you do not need a lot of advanced features to satisfy them at least in terms of animatronics. This may be the reason why simple animatronic toys still sell despite the age of robotics. If all customers want is features when buying something then everyone would buy for example purely electronic toys in the toy market.

Walt Disney Knows the Attraction of Animatronics to People

Perhaps the greatest example of the power of animatronics to attract customers is Walt Disney Entertainment Company with its many theme parks. A large number of their attractions revolve around animatronics and even from the start of his theme park company Walt Disney has emphasised to his engineers that he specifically wanted animatronics in his theme parks.

Even today Walt Disney Entertainment Company derives a lot of its revenue from its theme parks so much so that it intends to spend much more money to it than its other businesses such as movies, tv networks and so on. Other theme parks from other companies also use both rigid and animatronic statues to attract customers.

It is Advisable to Have One

So it is advisable if you have a business that is oriented towards retail or entertainment to have at least a rigid statue to attract customers. This is especially true if your business has a mascot that your customers will identify with your business. At the very least people passing by will take pictures of your statue and through this will enable them to remember your store and to hopefully one day make a purchase.

Statues and Animatronics Do Not Need to be Expensive

Many might complain that a statue is impractical to be put in front of their store due to costs and size. Cost should not be much of a problem as you can start with a mere cardboard statue that even amateur artists can do cheaply. You can even modify a free image online and use it as a mascot for your business. It is important however to test if the image you created attracts customers. Show it first to your family or friends for approval.

As larger statues get more attention from passersby which could turn to customers it is important that you put your statue in a place that does not steal customer or product space. One good space to put your statue would be at the edge of entrances where customers just normally pass by and where products are not stored.

You can even do amateur animatronics by making your statue move when the customer approaches the entry way to your store. I built one when I was young where my setup would ring an alarm whenever a customer steps on a rug in the entry way with a hidden switch in it which triggers the alarm. I could just substitute the alarm with a motor to create the animatronic.

You could also use the force of a door opening to power an animatronic. You could simply tie a piece of rope from one part of the door to your animatronic and when the door is open or closed the rope would make the animatronic move. This setup is like hiring a greeter to your store or business especially if you add a recorded voice to your animatronic.

Perhaps these simple animatronic tricks are simple enough to land the front of your store or business in social media and other news media such that it would lead to an increase in your business exposure and hopefully sales. This would also give a better customer experience to your clients and might even entertain them which might again lead to more sales.

Conclusion

Statues especially animatronics help attract customers to your store or business because they give a visual appeal to your business especially animatronics which makes your business seem to come alive. Statues and animatronics does not need to be expensive to create the desired effect of attracting customers. What you need to do however is to check what visual appearance attracts your customers to enter your store or business.