Current Situation of 1. Theme Park E-commerce Industry

Theme park e-commerce refers to theme park operators or third-party e-commerce platforms that provide consumers with theme park-related products and services through Internet channels, including tickets, hotels, catering, surrounding goods, value-added services, etc. The development of e-commerce industry in theme parks benefits from the following factors:

The global tourism market is booming. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, global tourism revenue reached $1.7 trillion billion in 2019, an increase of 3.8 percent over the same period last year, and global tourist arrivals reached 1.43 billion, an increase of 3.9 percent over the same period last year. As the world's largest outbound tourism market and the fourth largest inbound tourism market, China's outbound tourism number reached 0.17 billion in 2019, up 8.4 percent year-on-year; inbound tourism number reached 0.14 billion, up 4.5 percent year-on-year.

The prosperity of the tourism market has stimulated the demand for theme parks and provided a broad market space for theme park e-commerce.

The rapid growth of China's theme park market. The market size of China's theme parks reached 40.69 billion billion yuan in 2019, up 19.3 percent year-on-year, and declined to 38.5 billion billion yuan in 2020 due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, down 5.4 percent year-on-year. The rapid growth of China's theme park market has benefited from factors such as the advancement of urbanization, the expansion of the middle class, the trend of consumption upgrades, and policy support. The potential of China's theme park market is huge, but it is also facing fierce competition and changes in consumer demand. Theme park operators need to continuously innovate and optimize products and services to improve competitiveness and profitability.

development and popularization of Internet technology. The development and popularization of Internet technology provides technical support and user base for e-commerce in theme parks. According to the China Internet Network Information Center, as of June 2020, the number of Internet users in China had reached 0.94 billion, with an Internet penetration rate of 67 percent; the number of mobile Internet users had reached 0.93 billion, accounting for 98.6 percent of the total number of Internet users. With the development and popularization of Internet technology, theme park e-commerce can interact with consumers through a variety of channels and forms, providing more convenient, personalized and diversified products and services. At the same time, it can also collect and analyze consumer data and feedback, and optimize operation and marketing strategies.

In summary, the theme park e-commerce industry has broad prospects for development, but it also faces some challenges and problems. It requires the joint efforts of theme park operators and e-commerce platforms to continuously innovate and improve.

2. theme park e-commerce industry characteristics

The theme park e-commerce industry has the following remarkable characteristics:

Tickets are the main e-commerce product. According to research data from Shangpu Consulting, 92.3 percent of China's theme park e-commerce users in 2019 have purchased theme park tickets through e-commerce platforms, while less than 30 percent have purchased other products such as hotels, restaurants and peripheral goods. This shows that the consumption demand of e-commerce users in theme parks is still relatively single, mainly focused on tickets, while the degree of e-commerce of other products is still low and needs to be improved.

E-commerce platform is the main sales channel. According to research data from Shangpu Consulting, 86.7 percent of China's theme park e-commerce users in 2019 have purchased theme park products through e-commerce platforms, while only 13.3 percent have purchased theme park products through theme park websites or official apps. This shows that the e-commerce platform occupies a dominant position in the e-commerce market of the theme park, while the influence of the theme park's own channels is still weak and needs to be strengthened.

Price concessions are the main purchase motivation. According to research data from Shangpu Consulting, 78.9 percent of China's theme park e-commerce users in 2019 said that the main reason for purchasing theme park products through e-commerce platforms was price concessions, while the proportion of other reasons such as convenience, variety of choices and value-added services was less than 20 percent. This shows that the purchase behavior of e-commerce users in theme parks is still relatively sensitive, mainly affected by price factors, while the attractiveness of other factors is still weak and needs to be improved.

3. theme park e-commerce industry issues

Although the theme park e-commerce industry is developing rapidly, there are still some problems and challenges, mainly in the following aspects:

Product homogenization is serious. At present, most of the products in the theme park e-commerce market are based on tickets, lacking differentiation and innovation. The competition between different e-commerce platforms and theme parks is mainly reflected in the price, rather than the quality and characteristics of the products themselves. This has led to the compression of profit margins in the theme park e-commerce market, while also reducing consumer loyalty and satisfaction.

Insufficient standardization of services. The service level and quality of e-commerce market in theme parks need to be improved. On the one hand, some e-commerce platforms and theme parks have irregular and untimely after-sales services, such as difficulty in returning and changing tickets, slow customer service response, and poor complaint handling, which affect consumers' experience and trust. On the other hand, some e-commerce platforms and theme parks have imperfections and mismatches in service content, such as opaque product information, inconvenient booking process, inconsistent entry verification, etc., which affect the convenience and safety of consumers.

Poor user experience. The user experience in the theme park e-commerce market has yet to be optimized. On the one hand, some e-commerce platforms and theme parks have unfriendly and inconsistent problems in user interface and interaction design, such as chaotic page layout, unclear navigation, incomplete functions, etc., which affect the use and purchase of consumers. On the other hand, some e-commerce platforms and theme parks have insufficient and ineffective problems in user data and feedback, such as irregular data collection, inaccurate data analysis, and untimely data application, which affect the personalization of consumers. And satisfaction.

4. theme park e-commerce industry development trend

In view of the current situation, characteristics and problems of the theme park e-commerce industry, this paper predicts the development trend of the theme park e-commerce industry, mainly in the following aspects:

Product diversification and differentiation. In the future, the theme park e-commerce industry will continue to enrich the types and forms of innovative products to meet the diverse and personalized needs of consumers. In addition to tickets, the theme park e-commerce industry will increase the development and promotion of other products such as hotels, restaurants, and surrounding commodities to form a complete theme park tourism product system. At the same time, the e-commerce industry of theme parks will pay attention to the quality and characteristics of products, create products with the unique culture and atmosphere of theme parks, and enhance the added value and attractiveness of products.

Service standardization and optimization. In the future, the theme park e-commerce industry will continue to improve and improve the level and quality of services to enhance consumer experience and trust. On the one hand, the theme park e-commerce industry will standardize and strengthen the management and implementation of after-sales service, establish a unified and efficient service process and mechanism such as refund and change, customer service and complaint, so as to protect the rights and satisfaction of consumers. On the other hand, the theme park e-commerce industry will improve and match the content and form of services, provide transparent and accurate product information, convenient and safe booking process, consistent and fast admission verification and other services to ensure the convenience and safety of consumers.

User experience optimization and improvement. In the future, the theme park e-commerce industry will continue to optimize and enhance the user's use and purchase experience to increase consumer loyalty and reputation. On the one hand, the theme park e-commerce industry will be friendly and unified user interface and interaction design, providing clear and beautiful page layout, concise and clear navigation, comprehensive and practical functions, etc., to enhance the user's use and purchase efficiency and pleasure. On the other hand, the theme park e-commerce industry will make full and effective use of user data and feedback to provide accurate and personalized product recommend, discounts and activities, value-added services, etc., to improve user satisfaction and stickiness.

Conclusion

Theme park e-commerce is an important part of the theme park industry, but also the development direction of the theme park industry. Based on the consumer research data of Shangpu Consulting, this paper analyzes the current situation, characteristics, problems and development trends of the theme park e-commerce industry, and puts forward the optimization suggestions of theme park e-commerce, with a view to providing valuable reference for theme park operators and e-commerce platforms. The development of the theme park e-commerce industry requires the joint efforts of theme park operators and e-commerce platforms to continuously innovate and improve to meet the needs of consumers, enhance competitiveness and profitability, and achieve the sustainable development of the theme park industry.