Hybrid consumption
Hybrid consumption is the infusion of the different forms of consumption to the extent that the differences between the forms are blurred (Bryman, 2004). Forms of consumptions includes, shopping, eating at a restaurant, watch movies, gambling at a casino and more. The main principle of hybrid consumption is to get people to stay longer at a destination and spend more money. So when more forms of consumption are available, people would stay longer at the venue. Theming is related to hybrid consumption such that it adds sense to a venue, providing the individual the rationale to stay longer.
Shopping malls are becoming places for hybrid consumption that the mall itself is the place for the range of activities that it becomes a destination. The nine stories Kaohsiung Dream Mall incorporates a wide variety of restaurants, shops, department stores, Hello Kitty-themed ferries wheel and a sub-zero temperature playground to experience winter in sub-tropical Taiwan. All these activities would persuade customers to stay in the mall for a longer time due to the wide range of activities available.
Hello-Kitty inspired wheel (taking a ride on it is another kind of consumption already - entertainment)
Airports are also undertakes forms of hybrid consumption that they are going towards the concept as a shopping mall. Taoyuan international airport provides opportunity for dining, shopping, banking, visiting a clinic and trips to the museums at the airport. Though the concept is a little different in an airport situation because the customers are not being persuaded to stay longer due to flight commitments, however it would captivate them to spend their money at the airport while waiting for their flight. But it still fulfils the destination principle of having several forms of consumption at a single location.
Aviation Museum
Merchandising
Merchandising means the promotion of products in the form of, as well as bearing copyright images and logo that includes items made under licenses (Bryman, 2004). The main principle of merchandising is to milk revenue from an image that has already caught the attention of people positively that people are willing to buy. Merchandising can be very profitable such that adding a logo on an item would raise its value significantly or producing a plush toy into an instantaneously recognisable form such as SpongeBob. Merchandising, hybrid consumption and theming comes together in the example of Hard Rock Cafe before it closed down because it selling of the merchandise such as T-shirts and mugs is the shopping component and dining is another in the musically themed cafe.
The easier to relate form of merchandising to Taiwan would be their television series which is commonly known as Taiwanese Idol Dramas. With the large amount of celebrities acting in those dramas, the producers make profits from the merchandise related to the dramas by capitalising on the idols. An example would be the idol drama “Hot Shot” acted by famous Taiwanese idols such as Jerry Yan, Show Luo and Wu Chun. The television station used$3 million NTD to design over 40 merchandise products which is the Taiwanese drama with the most merchandising product. They include photos, stationeries, key chains, digital photo frames and even idol bolsters. Due to globalisation, as the drama can be found online and is aired in many countries, fans from all over the world are bidding for these merchandises and the high prices of these products could lead to the exploitation of fans.
Erasers
Cushions
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