The Wilkinet Survey – The voice of the consumer
Published: 01 August, 2007 in Nursery Industry Magazine: http://www.nursery-industry.co.uk/news/search.php?_FB%5Bq%5D=wilkinet
When a first time mum discovers they are pregnant they become a customer with several thousand pounds to spend, spread over two to three years. Winning and retaining a customer right at the beginning of the buying cycle can be very lucrative. One in 4 women in the early stages of pregnancy (under 20 weeks) say they have already bought their pushchair and car seat (and one in 6 have bought a baby carrier).
In many areas of the UK parents have their second ultra-sound scan in or around their 20-week mark (this is usually the scan where you can find out the sex of the baby). For most first time parents this is when the shopping really starts in earnest.
In previous columns I've touched on the services people say would make them more likely to shop at their local independent shop. There are two statistics that are particularly relevant to retaining new customers.
Nearly 1 in 3 first time pregnant women say they would be interested in a combined package for a set fee and 51% say they would like to see loyalty discounts from their local retailer.
While you may not be able to afford a percentage discount off every purchase you could take their contact details on their first visit and offer to send them updates on product/seasonal offers.
If you take their email address at the same time this offers a simple, low cost follow-up opportunity. There are lots of tools available - my personal favourite is a company called Aweber.
You don't need a website (although if you do it's a useful way to drive repeat purchase) and you can choose to have the system send them a sequence of pre-written emails over the course of several weeks and months or 'broadcast' a message to everyone on the list about a time sensitive offer.
With many first time mums starting their baby-shopping spree immediately after discovering they're pregnant it's important you plan for customer retention by offering a great shopping experience and a plan to follow up and keep them away from your competitors.
Gideon Wilkins
Showing posts with label baby product marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baby product marketing. Show all posts
Friday, March 28, 2008
So why do parents buy what they buy?
Gideon Wilkins is a qualified member of the Market Research Society. He is Managing Director of Wilkinet Ltd, manufacturer of the Wilkinet baby carrier, baby carrier rain cover and the Wilkinet clothing range.
The Wilkinet Survey – The voice of the consumer
Published: 01 July, 2007 in Nursery Industry Magazine: http://www.nursery-industry.co.uk/news/search.php?_FB%5Bq%5D=wilkinet
What goes through a person's mind when they are planning a purchase? What is it that prompts them to choose one model or brand over another? Of all the questions I've been asked since setting up the Wilkinet Survey, this is the one that comes up most often.
Knowing what motivates and influences your customer's buying decision can give you a head start that could mean the difference between making the sale and seeing them walk away to the next shop.
Each nursery category will also have different priorities so this section will mostly focus on the two main 'hard goods' - pushchairs (PC) and car seats (CS).
Looking through the insight we have, it's possible to split the motivations for purchase into two separate groups - Concerns and Extras.
Concerns
Whenever I meet parents face-to-face (whether speaking to them at parenting groups or when we exhibit our baby carrier at the consumer shows) there is one question that almost always comes up… 'How safe is this for my baby.' This is particularly, and understandably, prevalent in first time parents. In our surveys, 'Safety features' is the run away top priority (77% of people say it's the most important feature on pushchairs and 84% say so for car seats).
Once the parent has established their child's well being they start to think about their own experience of using the product. Will it be easy for them to use, store, fit into a car? With baby carriers we also often find people particularly interested in how comfortable it will be for them to use.
Extras
Having allayed any fears or concerns your customer might have, you then have the opportunity to identify the extras that usually come down to personal preference.
Some of the features that are considered most important are, suiting a wide age range (PC: 41%/CS: 25%) appearance & design (PC: 19%/CS: 8%), innovations & gadgets (PC: 9%/CS: 7%) and, of course, price (PC: 26%/CS: 16%).
Certain 'Extras' sometimes become prerequisites. Before you can even talk about safety/convenience you may have to answer questions on whether you stock brand x or colour y.
We discovered the information in this article by asking (lots of) parents questions… when you've got just one of them in front of you the best policy is to take the same approach - keep asking questions to establish the concerns to resolve and the extras to offer.
Gideon Wilkins
The Wilkinet Survey – The voice of the consumer
Published: 01 July, 2007 in Nursery Industry Magazine: http://www.nursery-industry.co.uk/news/search.php?_FB%5Bq%5D=wilkinet
What goes through a person's mind when they are planning a purchase? What is it that prompts them to choose one model or brand over another? Of all the questions I've been asked since setting up the Wilkinet Survey, this is the one that comes up most often.
Knowing what motivates and influences your customer's buying decision can give you a head start that could mean the difference between making the sale and seeing them walk away to the next shop.
Each nursery category will also have different priorities so this section will mostly focus on the two main 'hard goods' - pushchairs (PC) and car seats (CS).
Looking through the insight we have, it's possible to split the motivations for purchase into two separate groups - Concerns and Extras.
Concerns
Whenever I meet parents face-to-face (whether speaking to them at parenting groups or when we exhibit our baby carrier at the consumer shows) there is one question that almost always comes up… 'How safe is this for my baby.' This is particularly, and understandably, prevalent in first time parents. In our surveys, 'Safety features' is the run away top priority (77% of people say it's the most important feature on pushchairs and 84% say so for car seats).
Once the parent has established their child's well being they start to think about their own experience of using the product. Will it be easy for them to use, store, fit into a car? With baby carriers we also often find people particularly interested in how comfortable it will be for them to use.
Extras
Having allayed any fears or concerns your customer might have, you then have the opportunity to identify the extras that usually come down to personal preference.
Some of the features that are considered most important are, suiting a wide age range (PC: 41%/CS: 25%) appearance & design (PC: 19%/CS: 8%), innovations & gadgets (PC: 9%/CS: 7%) and, of course, price (PC: 26%/CS: 16%).
Certain 'Extras' sometimes become prerequisites. Before you can even talk about safety/convenience you may have to answer questions on whether you stock brand x or colour y.
We discovered the information in this article by asking (lots of) parents questions… when you've got just one of them in front of you the best policy is to take the same approach - keep asking questions to establish the concerns to resolve and the extras to offer.
Gideon Wilkins
Why do Parents choose one shop over another?
The Wilkinet Survey – The voice of the consumer
First Published: 01 May, 2007 in Nursery Industry Magazine, for more information visit: http://www.nursery-industry.co.uk/news/search.php?_FB%5Bq%5D=wilkinet
As part of my role at Wilkinet I often have the opportunity of visiting nursery shops. Several of them mentioned the first few months of 2007 have been slower than expected (compared to this time last year or the last quarter of 2006).
What makes parents choose your shop over any other? And what can you do to convince more of them to walk through your door?
In our survey of 280 parents and pregnant women, their biggest reason for shopping at the local independent retailer was for the "chance to find something different" (42%). Other important reasons include being able to have a "Convenient shopping experience" (33%) and finding "Better prices" (32%).
This presents the independent retailer with a challenging balancing act. To help you compete with the nationals like Mothercare and Argos you need to offer something different – whether it’s a specific niche or hard-tofind products that you’ve discovered.
At the same time, the big brands sell. If possible, you may need to offer some of the well-known names and accessories to get people through the door. Some retailers chose to be a specialist for one specific brand, offering a wide range, advice, parts and accessories.
Apart from competing on product range alone – we’ve identified other methods for attracting customers.
Certain items in the list aren’t possible for some independent retailers. If you have a smaller shop that is short of space it could be a challenge to offer changing facilities or places to sit down, relax or feed baby (but if you can – mums chat with other mums, so your personal referrals would be likely to increase). Financial resources and floor space can also restrict whether you’re able to offer a wider range of products.
If you knew you were going to get more return customers could you offer parents a small loyalty discount or perhaps a rewards scheme? If that would be too difficult to administrate – then perhaps combining several baby essentials for a set fee could help entice more customers.
Home delivery and set up is also a popular option – again, if it’s something you wouldn’t have time to do, perhaps a friendly ‘man-with-van’ could work with you
With competition from national and internet retailers, setting yourself up as being known for either selling or doing something different is a way of standing out from the crowd and increasing your customer base.
Gideon Wilkins
First Published: 01 May, 2007 in Nursery Industry Magazine, for more information visit: http://www.nursery-industry.co.uk/news/search.php?_FB%5Bq%5D=wilkinet
As part of my role at Wilkinet I often have the opportunity of visiting nursery shops. Several of them mentioned the first few months of 2007 have been slower than expected (compared to this time last year or the last quarter of 2006).
What makes parents choose your shop over any other? And what can you do to convince more of them to walk through your door?
In our survey of 280 parents and pregnant women, their biggest reason for shopping at the local independent retailer was for the "chance to find something different" (42%). Other important reasons include being able to have a "Convenient shopping experience" (33%) and finding "Better prices" (32%).
This presents the independent retailer with a challenging balancing act. To help you compete with the nationals like Mothercare and Argos you need to offer something different – whether it’s a specific niche or hard-tofind products that you’ve discovered.
At the same time, the big brands sell. If possible, you may need to offer some of the well-known names and accessories to get people through the door. Some retailers chose to be a specialist for one specific brand, offering a wide range, advice, parts and accessories.
Apart from competing on product range alone – we’ve identified other methods for attracting customers.
Certain items in the list aren’t possible for some independent retailers. If you have a smaller shop that is short of space it could be a challenge to offer changing facilities or places to sit down, relax or feed baby (but if you can – mums chat with other mums, so your personal referrals would be likely to increase). Financial resources and floor space can also restrict whether you’re able to offer a wider range of products.
If you knew you were going to get more return customers could you offer parents a small loyalty discount or perhaps a rewards scheme? If that would be too difficult to administrate – then perhaps combining several baby essentials for a set fee could help entice more customers.
Home delivery and set up is also a popular option – again, if it’s something you wouldn’t have time to do, perhaps a friendly ‘man-with-van’ could work with you
With competition from national and internet retailers, setting yourself up as being known for either selling or doing something different is a way of standing out from the crowd and increasing your customer base.
Gideon Wilkins
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