New tourists harder to please
Gift shops adjust to a new but familiar market – the locals. By Amanda Cropp.
In the absence of overseas tourists to buy Aeon Giftware’s intricately carved souvenirs, sales manager Jason Carlton is bracing for hard times ahead.
‘‘Basically we’re screwed, to put it bluntly,’’ he says.
‘‘We think we’ll lose about 90 per cent of our turnover. We had over 180 customers all over New Zealand from the top of the north to the bottom of the south and what we’re hearing is not good.’’
The border closure has left gift shops bulging with touristy trinkets that many New Zealanders wouldn’t dream of buying, forcing souvenir sellers and manufacturers to drastically change tack.
Aeon Giftware, which has been in business in Rotorua for nearly 30 years and employs eight people, is determined to survive.
During lockdown the company revamped its range of wooden gifts, moving away from a heavy Ma¯ ori influence into more universal Kiwiana designs to appeal to New Zealanders, including heart-shaped trinket boxes for Mother’s Day and customised 21st keys that can sell for $200 apiece.
‘‘It’s all about learning what this new market we’re getting into is going to look like, what styles they want and what price range,’’ says Carlton.
Pre-coronavirus, Rafe Hammett’s company, Prokiwi International, supplied 500 retailers with everything from souvenir baseball caps to coffee mugs, mostly made in China.
Some New Zealanders heading overseas took souvenirs as gifts, but it was a tiny portion of sales and Hammett is resigned to the possibility of simply closing down until overseas visitors come back in significant numbers.
Much has been made of a possible ‘‘trans-Tasman bubble’’ allowing Australians in, but he says they are not big spenders when it comes to souvenirs.
Gift shop owner Ross Oxnam is also preparing for a purely domestic market, putting the likes of magnets and key rings into storage.
‘‘At some stage we will have overseas tourists back. Souvenirs and giftware doesn’t age, we’ll box it up and keep it out of the light and bring it out in a couple of years time.’’
Oxnam is filling his three Go Kiwi gift stores in Nelson and Christchurch with merino hats, scarves and socks. ‘‘Anything that will keep people warm . . . we’ll become as local as we possibly can.’’
Others in the souvenir sector are focussing on online sales and Lesley Armstrong’s shopnz website is doing very nicely.
She is dispatching parcels to homesick Kiwis filled with comfort food such as Tim Tams, Pineapple Lumps, Marmite, and lots of Whittaker’s chocolate.
Pounamu and bone jewellery and korowai cloaks are also going well.
‘‘Part of the reason is that Kiwis overseas, for a lot of them now, they can’t come home even if they want to, so they’re buying a piece of home to make them feel better.’’
Armstrong says overseas tourists who have been here are still buying souvenirs and gifts because of their love for the country, but the border closure means that would eventually drop off, and suppliers must change their products to suit Kiwi tastes.
Aotea Gifts has closed all 10 of its stores and is trading solely online, extending its range of food products aimed at Asian markets.
‘‘It’s a much better strategy than opening the doors and hoping a Kiwi will come along and buy a pot of honey,’’ says company director Richard Hanson.
Having stocked up for the Chinese New Year influx, Aotea first felt the impact of Covid-19 in January when the Chinese stopped travelling. ‘‘We lost 60 per cent of our revenue straight away.’’
Hanson believes it could be be 18 months before international visitors return, forcing heavy discounting of honey, health and beauty products that are heading towards their expiry dates.
Online shoppers can now pick up half a dozen 500 gram jars of Manuka honey for $1519, a $463 saving.
Carlton accepts they will always face competition from cheaper imports but he says attitudes towards souvenirs are changing.
‘‘Over the last couple of years the souvenir stores had a change of heart, and instead of cheap and nasty imported products, they started to more heavily push New Zealand made products, and post Covid-19 a lot of people are more wary of where their products are made.’’