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Field Report: Pint-Size Attraction

There's one prerequisite when you design for a kid. You have to think like a kid.

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Designing for kids – you might be tempted to say it’s “child’s play.” But we know that while the customer may be small, the opportunity is not. Kids’ buying power is estimated to be upwards of $18 billion, promising a big payoff for retailers who can attract and retain their interest.

In the last few years, Chute Gerdeman has worked with Stride Rite, Disney, Limited Too, Club Libby Lu and Hamleys. And at the heart of every brand is a story. Helping it unfold through a series of subtle cues is where the magic begins. We use story-telling, colors, merchandise vignettes, decor and design to attract the imaginative and highly visual shoppers ages 10 and under. Disney, a company that has perfected storytelling, calls it the “suspension of disbelief.” When kids buy into the story, the store becomes their store, their club, and a special relationship develops.

How do we find that story? By listening to these little shoppers. When CG developed a store concept for Club Libby Lu, we created a fictional character (Libby Lu) and built an entire store concept around her ideas and personality. Then our creative design team turned to the little girls who would eventually become Libby Lu “club members” and organized a fun focus group. We gave these girls money to shop in the mall, then watched where they went, what attracted and excited them and how they shopped. Returning from the mall, we asked the girls to design the most “awesome-est” store in the world. Their designs are what exist today, including their chosen logo and color (unanimously pink!).

We knew that while we could intellectualize what kids want, it was all much more emotional than that. So we always conduct hands-on research when working with kids.

Delighting Kids’ Senses

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Younger shoppers respond to movement and scale more than adults do, and they also enjoy humor and wit on a different level. So we try to surprise and heighten their senses with unique or unexpected elements in the store landscape. Both oversized and miniaturized elements usually get noticed when placed out of context, and kids are more observant at recognizing sensory details that are often completely overlooked by grown-ups. In Bou-Tiki, at the Polynesian in Walt Disney World, there are tiki god characters hidden throughout the space, in columns, fixture details and outside looking into the store.

Kids also love to participate and are compelled to touch everything inside the store. Cause-and-effect switches, knobs, buttons and controls go a long way in delighting them. Club Libby Lu is built around the idea of fun, empowerment and making young girls feel special. Since “doing stuff” is part of this customer’s DNA, the store invites girls to customize an array of lotions and potions, including all things glittery (nail polish, shampoo, body gel and, of course, lip gloss). At the center of the store is the “princess pad,” a crown-shaped sofa that incorporates a Wheel of Fame & Fortune game table. Girls spin the giant dial and get answers to such destiny-changing questions as, “Will I be famous?” “Will we be friends forever?” and “Do people think I’m funny?”

Playing it Cool

Deftness is required to walk the sensitive line between “little” kids and tweens. Limited Too conducts extensive lifestyle research and keeps its fingers on the pulse of this quickly changing older customer – who darts between play and ever-so-cool pre-teen attitudes. It’s an interesting time, when independent tastes are developing, yet Mom still acts as the gatekeeper for most purchase decisions.

This dual decision dynamic impacts subtle design decisions, like creating fitting room lounges that enable mom-tween negotiations. Store displays have to feel grown-up, letting girls feel independent while shopping. But moms want to maintain visual contact, so fixture heights are landscaped and arranged to give a sense of both freedom and security.

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Kid-Tested, Parent-Approved

Since kids don’t have credit cards, it’s still Mom and Dad who pay for (or deny) kids’ purchases. So the retail experience has to be parent-approved, from the store design and customer service to the merchandise. Although Mom may take her kids shopping out of need, the shopping experience ought to be appealing and pleasant for both parties. For Stride Rite, we helped alleviate the stress that can come from shopping with multiple kids by offering a semi-contained play circle, so Mom can help one of her children find the right pair of shoes while another plays within full view.

Of course, safety is always an issue. Corners must be rounded and protruding hardware can’t snag kids as they’re running by. Durability is also important, especially in fixtures, for safety, economic and aesthetic reasons. Kids’ stores must be more robust than a typical store because they receive sustained abuse. For Bou-Tiki, Disney invested more than typical retailers would normally spend on fixtures because it knew that worn-looking fixtures would detract from the overall experience. Disney determined it could invest the money up-front or spend it over the next eight years in repairs and maintenance. By spending the money now, it has assured that the fixtures and the stores will look good over the long run.

The best thing about designing for kids is getting to be a kid yourself, at least for a while. Putting ourselves in their shoes provides a better chance of breaking out of the box – and maybe out of this world.

Brian Shafley is president and creative director of Chute Gerdeman Retail, a Columbus, Ohio-based design firm offering strategic retail brand image development, consumer trend and market analysis, creative direction, retail environmental design and space planning.

 

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