Have you heard the one about the kid in the phone store?

This is not Kelly's child. This is my child. Trapped on an airplane just like Kelly was trapped in a Telstra store. Not happy. You get the picture.

 If only it were a joke. Well, it was a joke, but not a funny one.

I'm talking about my business partner and fellow working mum Kelly who had to spend 40 minutes in a phone store recently with her 2 year old in tow.

Kelly was in there for around 40 minutes while the staff member went about bundling her telephonic services. The two staff members glared at her when her child began playing up after the first half hour. There was nothing to occupy him (except the same old stuff mum carried along in her handbag which, in toddler eyes, was sooooo boring), he had exhausted her snack supplies and the staff showed absolutely no interest in helping her by providing, say, a pen and piece of paper, or an old mobile phone out of the recycling bin or, well, ANYTHING.

And Kelly was trapped. They had gone so far in the bundling process with it's interminable form filling and whatnot, that to leave would mean coming back again for another stressful session. As it was, the staff member forgot a crucial element in the process and Kelly was called back the following week for another 40 minute session in the store. The frustration levels for everyone concerned (staff, customer, child) were ridiculously and unnecessarily high.

Could she have gone to the store without her child? Possibly. But on the days when he is in childcare, Kelly works. Domestic matters like shopping and paying bills and bundling your telecommunications have to happen when you're not at work. Which means taking a toddler with you.

The banks get it. Our client Westpac was the first bank to put in a dedicated play solution. Now most of the banks are doing it in one way or another. They know that over 85% of parents do their shopping with their children and they want to make the banking experience easy and pleasant for those parents. A parent whose child is safely occupied is also more likely to stay longer in the bank and is open to discussions about home loans or financial planning. And what a wonderful customer service initiative!

It's time for the telco stores to follow suit. The research is undeniable. Customers with children prefer to shop in a store where their child is welcome, where their child is safely occupied, where they can conduct their business without stress or glaring looks from staff.

Considering the vast sums the telcos spend on store fitouts, including a compact play solution is a relatively minor investment.

Including a half hour session into the next staff training day on how family friendly customer service practices can help generate additional sales would be of enormous benefit, not only to the customers, but to the staff who would be well-armed with a tool-kit of techniques and much more confident the next time they are faced with a cranky toddler.

Not to mention the store's bottom line. A customer with a contented child is more open to cross-selling and up-selling opportunities.

So come on telcos. What are you waiting for?

Child Friendly Solutions has been assisting Australian retailers with in-store play solutions for 10 years including Big W, K-Mart, Westpac, Toyota and Forty Winks. You can find Child Friendly Solutions Play Panels, Play Tables and other play equipment, as well as lots of information on becoming a child friendly retailer, at www.childfriendly.com.au 

Retail Wonderland - Latest Retail Trends

Last week I attended the Westfield sponsored seminar Retail: The New Normal and it was absolutely fantastic!

I turned up at 7am at the Sheraton in Sydney, expecting maybe 50 bleary-eyed people milling around a coffee urn, hoping to do a bit of networking and maybe get a piece of rockmelon and a muffin.

Instead, the Grand Ballroom was filled with people and the mood was surprisingly buzzy for that time of morning. There were even three types of melon and baked goods aplenty! But the best thing were the speakers, Chris Beer from Luxottica, Jon Bird from Ideaworks (whose blog posts are always fascinating insights into the latest retail trends) and Howard Saunders from Echochamber.

Now, I'd never heard of Howard before last Friday but I am now quite the fan. His presentation was entertaining, informative, inspirational and, at times, crudely hilarious, and I could have watched and listened to him for another hour as he trawled through his happy snaps of amazing retail experiences around the world. From Milan, Barcelona and Tokyo to New York, Malibu and Shanghai, he showed us retail concepts that sent shivers down my spine. And by the way, did I mention I WANT HIS JOB!

You can find a lot of the stores and retail case studies that Howard & Jon talked about here.

For example, the gorgeous Anthropologie stores (above) where their aim is to create an 'experience' for the shopper, not just a departmentalised fitout so, right throughout the store, you'll find little corners full of 'collections' of fabulous items.


And how inviting does this fitout at James Perse in Malibu Cove look? Couldn't you just imagine curling up in one of those chairs with some fabulous tome from the wall behind? This was another retail trend - creating a small, intimate, special space for the customer. And, of course, never making them feel like they have to buy something to enjoy the space.


The other key trend is to display products like an art installation. Check out the Issey Miyake store in Tokyo, where the clothes are kind of 'held up' by these strange looking steel rods. How amazingly different and unusual!

I also love the trend of customisation, like in this Levi's Vintage store where you can select a jeans pattern from 1956 and have it custom made for you in the same kind of denim from back then.

Or the Little Miss Matched stores where little girls can be 'empowered' by selecting unique combinations of socks, or even design their own in-store!

It makes me wonder what Australian retailers are doing to create amazing experiences for their customers.

Luxottica is at the forefront of these trends, creating an eyewear store that has a concierge to greet you at the door, a sports simulation room and, something close to my heart, a well-appointed, sectioned off children's play area. And do you know why they put the kids area in? Because their customers asked for it. Amazing what you can find out if you listen to your customers. Go Luxottica!

What are you doing in your store to create an 'experience' for your customers?


Child Friendly Solutions has been assisting Australian retailers with in-store play solutions for 10 years including Big W, K-Mart, Westpac, Toyota and Forty Winks. You can find Child Friendly Solutions Play Panels, Play Tables and other play equipment, as well as lots of information on becoming a child friendly retailer, at www.childfriendly.com.au

How Small Retailers Can Take On The Retail Giants

How would you like to compete with the biggest retail chains in the country, but without the massive retail chain budget?

Toyota, Big W, Esprit, Westpac - all of them understand the financial benefit of keeping customers with children in the store or branch longer, as not only are they are more likely to spend, but they perceive better customer service and are more likely to return.

Small retailers and chains have the ability to do this too, at minimal cost (just a few hundred dollars) so it is deceptively simple to compete with the big guys and hitch your store onto the child friendly retail trend.

I am always amazed talking to retailers who say "But we don't sell things for children" or "We don't want children in our store" or the classic "We don't have parents shopping in our store."

Now, in some rare cases, this is true. I wouldn't take my toddler to Tiffany for example. Or Chanel. Heck, I don't even take myself there! My credit card wouldn't cope. Nor would my husband for that matter ("That postage-stamp sized handbag was HOW much?")

But the vast majority of retailers, from lighting stores to car dealers to clothing boutiques to vet suppliers are selling to parents, whether they like it or not. And parents, whether they like it or not, go shopping with their kids in tow. 88% of parents, in fact, go to the shops accompanied by their little darlings and 91% of them said they had been unable to make a purchase due to distractions from their children.

So my question to retailers is, do you really want to be missing out on 88% of your potential market?

Let's break that down. If one parent leaves your store every day because there is nothing to occupy their children, and your average sale is, say, $50, that's around $18,000 in lost revenue EVERY YEAR.

"Hold on," you say, "I could seriously make an extra $18,000 a year just by putting in a play solution that will cost me a few hundred bucks? I must be crazy! Bring it on. Where can I get one?!"

At least, that's what I would say if I were a retailer. And that's what the good folk at Esprit and Toyota and 700 other retailers have cottoned on to. Especially at Toyota because their average sale is more like $40,000. Even one family leaving the dealership every week without buying is costing Toyota over $2 million every year.

So I put it to you my retailing friends, whether you are selling barbeques or towels or books, the question is not "Why should I put in a play solution?", it's a resounding and very persuasive "Why haven't I?"

After all, you have at least $18,000 worth of reasons to!

You can find Child Friendly Solutions Play Panels, Play Tables and other play equipment, as well as lots of information on becoming a child friendly retailer, at www.childfriendly.com.au

Retail Doctoring

This morning found me up and about at what felt like the middle of the night but was actually 5.30am, getting ready for a business breakfast in North Sydney.

When day actually did break and I could see sufficiently to ensure I hadn't substituted eyeliner for lipstick and didn't have my dress tucked into the back of my pantyhose, I choofed off to the Harbour View Hotel to listen to some fabulous speakers on the topic of Retail Trends.

First up was Dr Sean Sands from the Australian Centre for Retail Studies, talking about the key trends that will impact the retail industry over the next ten years. You can find out more here.

The key point seemed to boil down to that ol' chestnut - LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS. Amazingly, some major retailers still don't do that.

This frustrates me no end. I often walk into stores where the manager has seen a need to occupy children so that she can keep her customers who shop with kids in the store longer. She has brought in the box of broken Lego and a few dog-eared books from home.

Why spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a gorgeous refit when the thing that's really getting the customers in and keeping them there spending, is a box of one-armed Barbies and one-legged Buzz Lightyears?

Really, is that how head office wants to project their brand? Apparently so, judging by the number of frustrated sales staff and store managers who say that head office refuses to consider a safe, branded, space-effective play solution.

Brian Walker, the Retail Doctor, elaborated on this point by highlighting the disconnect between head office and the coal face of the retail business. Brian's a bit of a guru in the retail space, teaching retailers how to implement retail strategies that work. You can learn more about him here.

Finally we heard from Roy Tavenor from Red Design Group. He has just come back from exotic Istanbul where retailers are ripping it up with fantastic store design and a 'green' approach to retailing. Roy talked about the growth of private brands (thanks for the Aldi wine tip!) and the downsizing of the mega-store, as well as the importance of going as 'green' as possible to reduce our carbon footprint.

All up, an interesting morning and I strongly recommend, if you are a retailer, stopping by the speaker's websites and asking them for their presentation notes.

Then, because there is not a hotel on this planet that can produce a decent coffee or tea from a pot that's been on a warmer for 2 hours, I topped off my virtuous educational morning with a skim chai latte from Greenwood in the recently-awol sunshine. Luvverly!