Bringing up the baby business - Apparel Merchandising

Discount Store News, Oct 17, 1994

Babies are big business. One would assume that layette, which can best be described as everything a baby needs for its first few months of life, generates lofty sales mainly among new parents. However, there exists a whole other faction of consumers--money-wielding giftgivers--whose powerful presence mass retailers have historically ignored.

In most cases, a grid-wall and possibly a few random floor fixtures serve as a store's layette headquarters. But now that mass retailers are beginning to acknowledge how potentially profitable the layette gift business can be, they are scrambling to make their presentations more attractive and user-friendly.

"The reality today is that money is sitting with an older consumer," says Tom O'Shea, divisional merchandise manager of children's wear for O'Fallon, Mo.-based Venture Stores. O'Shea says that layette, a category he classifies as "the fastest growing segment of infant and toddler," is largely purchased by gift-givers who typically have more money to spend on more items. To that end, O'Shea says, Venture is planning to create a unified gift center, merging the infant ready-to-wear and layette departments, currently located adjacent to one another.

At Rocky Hill, Conn.-based Ames, 80 to 90 percent of purchases made in the layette department, which is anchored by the Gerber Childrenswear label, are done so for gifts. "Mothers don't really have to buy anything for baby for the first six months or so. They get everything they need from friends and relatives," contends Patti Simigran, divisional merchandise manager of children's wear.

Ames, too, is aggressively reacting to this mass gift-giving activity by improving and updating its departments. In a merchandising experiment conducted in select stores for the fall season, Simigran says Ames developed new planograms for the layette departments, which are housed at the back of infant ready-to-wear. "We carved out 8-foot sections and filled them with organizers and cute bed and bath accessories. We also narrowed down the assortment of children's shoes and socks on the traditional 12-foot wall. We replenished the space with more crib shoes and novelty socks." The chain also fortified the selection with impulse buys, such as plush toys, to fuel multiple sales situations. "People were really gravitating toward the redesigned sections," says Simigran. "The tremendous reaction prompted us to set them up in all our doors for spring."

Sears is also refining its gift business. At the Hicksville, N.Y., prototype store, consumers can't help but link layette with gift-giving; the chain strategically places its layette assortment across the aisle from The Gift Center, an area stocked with trinkets, greeting cards, gift wrap and an engraving counter.

Layette basics and infant ready-to-wear are combined in one department, which is housed within the expansive children's wear area. A separate department, zoned next to The Gift Center, offers furniture, wall hangings, bedding and accessories. The apparel mix is composed of gift sets starting at $9.99 from Luv 'N Care and Disney Babies by Catton Bros., which are displayed along shelving.

Playwear and outerwear from such labels as Hush-a-Bye, Weather Tamer and the private label Kids & More at Sears are hung on four-ways. Notable impulse buys include Anastasia acrylic sweaters, $9.99, merchandised with matching booties; Cradle Togs dresses with coordinating soft shoes or hair bows from $6.99; and one-piece snap undershirts in forward colors from Baby's Own by St. Lawrence Textiles.

Target and Bradlees recently commissioned their own soup-to-nuts private label layette programs. But in many consumers' minds nothing can replace a recognized, reliable brand. Dundee Mills is such a fixture on the mass layette floor, providing retailers with three distinct labels, its own and two under license, Disney Babies and Fisher-Price.

"Gift giving is a very important part of our layette business," notes Christine Lanigan, vice president of marketing for Dundee's Baby Products division. To help retailers maximize their gift sales, Dundee has introduced products not widely available at popular price points, such as infant booties, caps and the innovative Blank-A-Roo swaddling blanket.

Bowling Green, Ky.-based Fruit of the Loom is staking its first fullfledged claim on the layette market. Nearly a year ago, the company hired Jack MacEachern, a 26-year veteran of children's wear giant Carter's, as its vice president of children's wear sales. MacEachern was instrumental in launching Fruit's complete layette program, which is composed of bed and bath, underwear and playette.

The goods are set to hit Kmart, Wal-Mart and Caldor this month. Fruit of the Loom has secured extensive deals with these chains through the end of the year and will add the likes of Bradlees and Target to its distribution roster for 1995.

Debbie Hills, Fruit of the Loom's director of marketing and licensing for children's wear, says the company was looking for growth and layette was par for the course. "We wanted to make our collection meaningful to the consumer," she says. To achieve this, Fruit of the Loom conducted a survey of mothers with girls, mothers with boys, pregnant women and gift-givers. "Although we hadn't officially introduced the collection, acceptance of the name in the layette category was extremely high," Hills reports.