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Sales and Merchandising Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Sales and Merchandising

Retail Tales And Tribulations: Transmedia Brands, Consumer Products, And The Significance Of Shop Talk, Avi Santo Jan 2019

Retail Tales And Tribulations: Transmedia Brands, Consumer Products, And The Significance Of Shop Talk, Avi Santo

Communication & Theatre Arts Faculty Publications

This article challenges media studies scholars to pay closer attention to retail spaces as sites that mediate how entertainment franchises engage consumers. Examining retail through a media industries lens, it argues that retail is a site of struggle among retailers and brand owners over how brand stories are told, if at all. The article explores both the storytelling devices used in telling Frozen and Sesame Street stories at Target and how shop talk among retailers, brand owners, and manufacturers shapes the kinds of stories that entertainment properties can tell at retail, especially as those stories intersect with retail imaginings of …


Mediated Merchandise, Merchandisable Media: An Introduction, Elizabeth Affuso, Avi Santo Nov 2018

Mediated Merchandise, Merchandisable Media: An Introduction, Elizabeth Affuso, Avi Santo

Communication & Theatre Arts Faculty Publications

There are many reasons why film and media scholars ought to take merchandise seriously. That filmrelated merchandise is a lucrative part of the film business is only a starting point, but still a good place to start. In 2018, character and entertainment licensing accounted for 44.7% of retail sales of licensed merchandise, generating $121.53 billion in sales. [1] [#N1] This earned entertainment companies approximately $6.2 billion in royalties. [2] [#N2] Not surprisingly, five of the top ten licensors are entertainment companies, with Disney positioned at the top with $53 billion in merchandise sales. Universal Studios is ranked 4th ($7.3 billion), …