Retailers think outside the box
Store owners share ideas at Kids Today conference
-- Kids Today, 8/1/2007 11:16:00 AM
By Tanya K. Merritte
Retailers looking to boost or maintain their business need to do more than simply sell product. That was the message attendees heard during a panel on uncommon retailing practices at the Kids Today conference held in June.
Phil Wrzesinski of The Toy House, Jackson, Mich.; Mike Schaul of Lone Star Baby & Kids, Dallas/Fort Worth; and Karen Scott of One Step Ahead, Lake Bluff, Ill., all shared strategies they have used to bring customers into their store or onto their Web site and, most importantly, keep them coming back.
Wrzesinski teaches a class once a month at his store on rotating topics such as explaining the difference between pine and maple nursery and youth furniture and why that is important. The store also reaches out to the community through its church nursery showers. Churches looking to remodel their nurseries visit the Toy House and pick out the items they need such as furniture, bedding and toys. The store helps set up the nursery and church members come in to make a donation to help purchase product. Anything not bought is returned to the store, although Wrzesinski he usually doesn’t get a lot of returned product.
Schaul, whose stores were formerly part of the USA Baby franchise, offers party rooms in his stores. He also has started a customer referral program – customers who refer others the stores earn points if the person referred buys something. When customers reach a certain point total, they receive travel vouchers.
Although Scott is a catalog/online retailer, she had still added programs to help boost business, such as having three advisory panels – one each for kids, parents and grandparents. The site has also added a product ratings system, which Scott said has been a hit. “Grandparents feel confident (buying) with ratings,” she said.
Scott also collects costumer comments, which are circulated through all departments at One Step Ahead. “It’s the constant feedback.” Partly as a result of that, the company has added video instruction on the Web site that includes topics such as using stroller features and how to measure for safety gates.
The panelists also said they have worked diligently to keep staff trained and energized.
“We do what we can to make the environment good,” Wrzesinski said. “It must be fun.”
He added that the store tries to help staffers handle stress and balance work/life issues. “It’s about personal growth, not just selling product.” Wrzesinski said there is some sort of training once a month and the hourly pay for his employees is above minimum wage.
Scott said her customer service representatives receive one-one-one job training. As for Schaul, he keeps a “help wanted” sign in his window all the time. “You never know who you might want to talk to,” he said.
Schaul said he’s also able to retain good people through a comprehensive pay structure.
Scott is trying to differentiate her merchandise mix by moving toward more private label merchandise, with about 25% to 30% of the current line being private label.
For Wrzesinski, however, he believes that common brands are what drive a lot of business to his store and he used Mattel’s Barbie as an example. “People buy Barbie, then stay for the other stuff,” he said. “If we do right by our customers, they buy from us,” even if Target and Walmart have it.
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