By Laurie Tema-Lyn of Practical Imagination Enterprises,
Reva Dolobowsky of Dolobowsky Qualitative Services & Marcia
Mogelonsky of Mintel International Group © 2001, Dolobowsky,
Tema-Lyn & Mogelonsky
Never mind
the teens -- what about the kids? According to James McNeal, an
expert on kid marketing, children between the ages of 4 and 12
spent or influenced more than $550 billion (that's 20 percent)
of retail spending in 2000. That's a lot of money. And that's
why some unlikely players have now entered into competition for
kids' attention. It's not just McDonalds and Burger King, for
example. Now, Starbuck's is also becoming kid-friendly, in order
to attract moms and dads who may find themselves out and about
with the little ones, and in the mood for something more sophisticated
than a Big Mac. And if Starbuck's is beginning to look like a
day care center, that's nothing compared to Home Depot, which
offers weekly workshops expressly for children. Or Barnes &
Noble, Kroger Supermarkets, or even Chevron, all of which are
remaking themselves as kid-friendly shopping experiences.
Appealing
to children pays off for many of these retailers in the short
term -- it gets their parents into the store and makes it easy
for them to complete a shopping mission without the embarrassment
of a meltdown in the checkout line. But it's also a long-term
strategy for many-- a way of building customer loyalty among the
youngest shoppers in the hope that the warm and fuzzy memory of
a first building project will result in a long-term commitment
to the store or the brand.
