Many pool/spa retailers will tell you that knowing your customers is the key to creating a retail space that’s both effective and profitable. Information about their ages, income levels and proclivity to entertain will help you determine which products to sell, and make it easier to create a retail atmosphere that will make them feel comfortable while they shop.
So it’s all about the customers.
Or maybe it isn’t.
While adults plunk down the money for the products they need, they often are being guided, persuaded and downright told what to do and where to go by their children. So it has become increasingly important to create a shopping environment focused on the needs of both the customers and their children.
“We’re so hyper-focused on selling the products that we often forget about [providing] the full [shopping] experience,” says Ted Lawrence, corporate retail category manager at Covington, La.-based distributor PoolCorp. “When we do focus on the experience, we typically focus on the adult experience. We overlook the influence that [children] have on their parents.”
Those youngsters now have quite a bit of sway, as shown by a recent survey of parents with children born after 1995. The poll, conducted by InfoScout for the National Retail Federation, revealed that 67% of more than 1,000 parents get their children’s input before making a purchase, and 59% will not buy an item if their child does not approve. InfoScout’s findings also show that households spend an average of $6 more per shopping trip when these children come along.
Anecdotes support the findings, as retailers report seeing kids in tow more often than not. This shifts the needs. “It creates a much more enjoyable experience for the mothers if the kids are excited about visiting the stores instead of being dragged along,” says Dave Warren, president of Total Tech Pools & Leisure in Oakvillle, Ontario, Canada.
So if your store isn’t exactly welcoming to kids, consider these ways to begin creating the most family-friendly pool and spa shop in town.
Low-Cost Options
Going family-friendly is a lot easier than it may sound. Sometimes all it takes is ice cream.
Warren acknowledges that customers are more likely to return to his store if the kids want to go. So, for the past eight years, customers who shop at Total Tech Pools & Leisure will find a freezer full of ice cream cups and sandwiches, among other treats. These are available to the children for free — and adults are invited to partake as well.
This tactic achieves what many thought impossible — getting kids excited about picking up a container of pool shock. “The first thing [they do] is go straight to the ice cream freezers,” Warren says.
And don’t discount the impact that a cool glass of lemonade can have on a hot summer day of running errands, says Scott Reynolds, CEO of The Get Smart Group, an Angels Camp, Calif.-based marketing and web-design firm serving pool/spa retailers. He recommends serving up free glasses during summer. “It’s memorable,” he says.
Parents most likely will have to stop for ice cream or cool drinks to satiate the kids on a long afternoon of running errands, so your store can help knock out two tasks in one shot.
“You’re solving a problem for [the parents],” Reynolds says. “That’s a win-win.”
No-Cost Options
An ice cream freezer full of treats or sacks of lemons and sugar do involve a small financial investment. But there are several no-cost methods to make your store family friendly.
Retailer Wendy Purser gives manufacturer-supplied coloring books to children visiting her store. These especially come in handy when parents sit in on sales and educational presentations by staff. Purser invites the children to color at an extra desk in her office.
“The coloring books and crayons are a wonderful way to keep the children occupied,” she says.
Total Tech uses coloring books provided by the Pool & Hot Tub Council of Canada. In addition to entertaining the children, these books teach little ones about pool safety.
If profits look good this year, you might want to consider taking your family-friendly investment to the next level.
For the last 20 years, Warren has hosted a barbecue at Total Tech during the last weekend in April. The theme changes every year, and members of the community enjoy lots of good eats while children are entertained by clowns and an inflatable bouncy castle.
Marketing the Message
Warren promotes his barbecue in radio and print, as well as social media. It pays off: About 2,500-3,000 people attend the event every year.
If you’re going to devote the time, energy and financial resources into creating a family-friendly retail environment, expect to invest in a marketing plan to promote events. After all, providing these perks won’t do you any good if no one knows about them.
Reynolds recommends taking pictures of children enjoying ice cream, drinking lemonade, drawing in coloring books, etc., at your store and posting them to Facebook. Everyone likes to see pictures of happy children, so the images are likely to be shared across social media, he says.
You also can use these images on the homepage of your website. Reynolds cautions against only using the photos as part of a blog post, where they are more likely to get buried among the other content and won’t generate as much publicity.
Facebook also can come in handy to promote a monthly coloring book contest, Lawrence says. You could post the children’s drawings online and then have people vote for their favorite artist. The winner could receive a free prize, perhaps an inexpensive item that you need to purge from inventory. Don’t like the idea of giving away a product that you’d prefer to sell for full value? Don’t worry about it. “The exposure you’re going to get on social media alone for that little campaign is worth it,” Lawrence says.
But remember a crucial rule: Ask parents’ permission before photographing their children, and explain that the images may be used on social media. Not everyone likes to have their kids’ pictures posted on the internet. If some parents say no, don’t sweat it. The next person will say “yes,” Reynolds says.
If you do billboard or radio ads, don’t be afraid to promote your family-friendly activities across those outlets as well. It can be as quick and easy as adding one line of copy, such as, “And remember on Saturdays, free lemonade for the kids.”
