Kid stuff

Discount Store News, Oct 25, 1999 by Cecile B. Corral

4 to 8 years

Parents going shopping with their 4-to-8-year-old children had better fatten their wallets for the outing. It is more than likely that the kids are going to walk out of the store with some goodies that mom or dad could not resist buying for them, whether through coercion or not.

Forrester Research recently released a study that found that in 1998, 5-to-14-year-olds indirectly influenced the spending of $117 billion by their parents and other adult relatives and spent $27 billion of their own money on consumer goods, as well. Although the study encompasses a wider age range beyond the 4-to-8-year-old target market, its core focus is 5-to-8-year olds.

America's Research Group found that while children 4 to 8 don't have a substantial influence on their parents' purchases of larger, more expensive items such as computers, these pint-size future consumers do have considerable influence on smaller-ticket items in the toys, food and apparel categories.

"These kids have plenty of influence at the hamburger stand. Look at the success of the Happy Meal. Kids beg their parents for it just to get their hands on the junky toy inside," said Chris Cooper, vp, America's Research Group. "Now, an 8-year-old might be a good reason to buy a computer, but parents won't necessarily buy the computer that the 8-year-old wants or because the 8-year-old wants it."

Even so, mass and mid-tier retailers need not worry, Cooper said. After these kids down their cheeseburgers and play with their new mini Beanie Baby, they are ready to tackle the retail stores, parents in hand. On less costly but more frequently purchased items such as clothing, food and toys, 4-to-8-year-olds are right there--not just having their say on what is a cool purchase. They are in many cases the instigator making the sale happen.

"We are now getting kids in these age brackets who are more brand-aware than ever, and they are heavily influencing the purchases of T-shirts, caps, Michael Jordan shoes," Cooper said. "For example, the movie `Space Jam' made Michael Jordan a household name among these younger kids, and that's why they want Nikes and not generic brand sneakers."

Some of the largest influences on children's perceptions on brands and branded merchandise stem from the television programs they watch and the movies they see.

Warner Bros., for example, recently re-issued "Scooby Doo" on its Cartoon Network and enforced its release with a slew of products on sale at mass retailers that targeted both its new young audience as well as their parents, for whom "Scooby Doo" is a nostalgic property.

Lucas Films did the same with its re-release of the "Star Wars" films. Anchoring the success of the first part of the new trilogy was a huge marketing effort at the store level with Star Wars licensed toys, housewares, collectibles and even cross-licensed food products to attract children ages 4 and older and their parents, many of whom were youngsters themselves when the original "Star Wars" trilogy was in theaters.

But bricks-and-mortar stores are not the only place kids are influencing spending. E-commerce sites are making every effort to make shopping easy for their young consumer base. Ohio Art, the manufacturer of Etch-a-Sketch and the Betty Spaghetty dolls that recently hit store shelves, is releasing in the spring and fall of 2000 extensions of its increasingly popular Betty Spaghetty dolls and accessories based on the input they get from the young girls who use the bettyspaghetty.com Web site, president and ceo Larry Killgallon said.

"The Internet has completely changed the way we do business," Killgallon said. "Now if we want to know what little girls think of our products, we just ask them, and instantaneously we get their responses. Believe me, it's a lot quicker than organizing a focus group, which normally takes us about 6 weeks to get results."

The Betty Spaghetty line was originally supposed to include only female dolls. But after listening to the requests of their young consumers, Betty now has two brothers, Adam and Josh, who are being added to the collection. Likewise, Net-savvy little girls want their Betty dolls to have a wider assortment of clothes, so by spring 2000 Ohio Art will introduce its new trio of Betty's Closet sets.

On its site, Mattel includes technology that lets its young Barbie fans dress up Barbie dolls on the site.

"It's the same tactic retailers use with candy at the point-of-sale," said Ekaterina Walsh, Forrester Research analyst.

Aside from the doll dress-up features Mattel and Ohio Art use on line, games, educational information access and wish list options are also successful, Walsh said.

For the holidays, for example, both eToys and Amazon have developed Wish List features that allow children to create their own registry of gifts they want, making the shopping easier for their parents and loved ones.

And both Nickelodeon and Disney encourage their young audience to remain loyal by offering contests on their Web sites for prizes.