From baby to tween, juvenile's growing up fast - marketing juvenile products - Brief Article

DSN Retailing Today, June 4, 2001 by Mike Duff

The popularity of juvenile product on the domestics side of middle-market retailing is nothing new. For three years, it has been the subject of growing interest. But category growth recently has taken on new proportions, boosting product availability and intensifying competition.

While layette has been the most notably active segment until recently, attention is skewing toward older children. To see just how important juvenile furniture has become to middle-market retailers, you need look no further than the latest Kids "R" Us prototype.

In the middle of the new concept's teardrop-shaped racetrack (two stores now sport the updated layout with five to seven more coming in time for Back-to-School) is a home section that includes furniture, bedding, accessories and even bath products aimed at children and tweens. The products are exclusive to Kids "R" Us and are offered in lifestyle presentations so kids, led by or dragging their parents, can shop with a sense of self.

John Eyler, ceo of parent company Toys "R" Us, said the addition of home products helps to make Kids "R" Us a more thoroughgoing destination for busy parents. By offering a unique selection of both apparel and home items, he said, the new Kids "R" Us prototype provides the kind of fashion people are looking for in all aspects of their life, while offering another important factor, convenience. "It meets all of the shoppers' apparel needs, but other needs as well," Eyler said. "It offers a more complete shopping experience."

As noted, a key element driving the market is older children and younger teenagers, or tweeners. At Ames, for example, James Aglio, senior vp and gmm of hard lines, said the company is holding the line on juvenile segments, except one. "We're going after additional tween merchandise," he said.

The tween market, at least now and for the next few years, will be dominated by the demographic dubbed Generation Y or Echo Boomers. They have entered their teenage years in a population surge that promises to be the biggest thing since the Baby Boomers began spending their allowances without adult supervision.

Still, tweens haven't displaced babies and toddlers when it comes to the expansion of home categories. In Canada, Wal-Mart has reorganized its layette and toddler products into unified shop presentations ranging from strollers to blankets to jumpers. "We're centralizing it, making it easier for the customer to shop," said Andrew Pelletier, director of public affairs for Wal-Mart Canada. Like other retailers, the company recognizes many consumers become serious discount store shoppers at the time when their first bundle of joy arrives.

At the latest New York Market Week for home textiles, juvenile and licensed products got strong showings. WestPoint Stevens, for example, introduced a new Disney product line, featuring a strong fashion element that should appeal to older as well as younger children and, with Snow White and Pooh prominent, to girls. With Tigger and Mickey Mouse elements, the line also has appeal across gender lines. The line won't be limited to the bedding side either, said Ann Martin, a spokeswoman.

The WestPoint introduction represents another element in a Disney resurgence in middle-marketing retailing. In New York, to discuss Kmart's new marketing and merchandising initiatives, chairman and ceo Chuck Conaway said Disney would be taking a special place in Kmart stores, both physically and symbolically. Kmart plans to open dedicated Disney shops to create a strong position for the proprietary and non-proprietary elements that will make up its assortment. Strategically, the Disney program represents one of several vendor alliances Kmart has developed. In keeping up its end, Kmart will do more than simply display products. It will develop a merchandising package, including video screens that focus on Disney entertainment products to help the Mouse do its marketing.

From Kmart's perspective, the Disney initiative is an opportunity for the retailer to build on its successful Sesame Street program to reach its stated goal of becoming the mom-friendliest of discounters. Disney allows the retailer to offer products for kids who are growing out of the Sesame Street years and to keep their moms buying at Kmart. "Disney takes it a little higher," said Conaway.

The mass-market component of another potentially huge home license, Harry Potter, was also on display at Springs Industries during Market Week. The introduction depicted Harry in two scenes on top of bed, a treatment echoed in built-in bath products. A twin comforter will retail for around $39.99. Springs isn't limited to Harry as it pursues juvenile consumers and offers a complete Jurassic Park 3 collection. And the mill hasn't forgotten tweens and continues to develop product under such banners as She's Charmed and Dangerous for girls in their low double digits.

Naturally, more was going on in juvenile and licensed product during Domestics Week. Mohawk Carpet, for example, is doing a new Warner Bros. program. Character licenses generally have been reckoned fiat for the past couple of years as apparel sales stagnated. Vendors, though, have adapted by placing more emphasis on fashion in apparel and other areas.