Toy Store-y 2 and A Half: Pokemonium

Selling to Kids, Dec 8, 1999

Looking at the bored expressions on the waiting customers, the song playing in the store - "Working in a Coal Mine" - seemed appropriate. In fact, a few of the line-sitters we engaged in an informal focus group thanked us for relieving the wait, which suggested this tip: It's easy to intercept survey respondents when they're waiting in line. at the movies, at concerts, at the airport, bus or train station.

How was the after-Thanksgiving experience for shopper-in-waiting Rick Traversy? "I didn't know it was going to be an experience. I though we were going to be able to zip in and zip out," said the Melrose, Mass., resident whose family came to Maryland to visit relatives for the holiday.

Traversy had finished shopping in September for his own kids - a four-year-old boy who wants "Star Wars stuff" and a seven-year-old daughter who wants Pokemon. He was at the store to shop for kids he was visiting so he wouldn't have to mail the gifts. Behind him, Eric Compton of Philadelphia, also in town to visit relatives, called the holiday shopping "a necessary evil," in which he has participated for three years.

In fact, the number of out-of-town, parent-age shoppers we found suggested that retailers would be wise to offer such services to nonlocals as store addresses and directions on supplements (overprinted in black ink to save on printing costs) or a toll-free number, which visitors could call to find the closest store.

"Although the line looks long, no customer waits longer than 20 minutes," said Young. Judy Jones, a Potomac, Md., resident disagreed, having finished checking out at 9:45, an hour and fifteen minutes after entering the line. Rodgers of Wheaton, Md., in line to stock up on Legos, Air Hogs and Backyard Football for her two sons - 6 and 9 - thinks she's onto Zany Brainy's strategy. "The line dispenses you among the merchandise and gives you time to buy more impulse items." But, she says, "at some point, you can't give up. You've invested this much time in the line." "Not me," said her mother who joined her. "If I were alone, I'd have left by now."

Why Bother?

If you can't stand the lines, why not go online instead? Jones said she tried at toysrus.com but it was hard to navigate. "I got through all the different screens, then I couldn't figure out how to submit my order." Zany Brainy, with merchandise she considers to be of better quality and higher educational value, also had an easier Web site, but she came to the brick store because the prices were better there than online.

Pamela Gazdag, mother of a boy, 2, with a second baby due in January, "got a lot of things from e-Toys and was really pleased with that Web site. no delays, gifts were done, wrapped and sent." But she left her husband at home with her son to buy a few things she hadn't found online at the right prices. "I thought this was going to be as easy but it's not." Other parents waiting in line at Zany had done some online shopping at toysrus.com, lured by the free shipping until Dec. 1. Zany, they said, charges a lot for shipping online.