Barking Mad

Image courtesy Maxi-Cosi

With independent retailers being able to re-open this month, Pramland’s John Barker is feeling both apprehensive and optimistic. Here he shares his thoughts.

This month Pramland’s John Barker is talking car seats. Here he gives his view of how, by fine tuning your ranges and demonstrating your knowledge, you can secure customer confidence and ultimately the ringing of the till!

After the madness of April it would appear May was a little bit of a let-down for many of us. Having spoken to a number of people, both stores and brands showed that May was much quieter than the previous month. Although footfall and sales remained good across many of our stores customers didn’t appear to want to part with their cash as readily as the month before. We noticed a signifi cant swing away from urgent, must have it now, here’s the cash type shopping to I’m due in 3 or 4 months so here’s the minimum deposit.

At the end of the day normality had to resume but I had assumed, like the fi rst lockdown it wouldn’t have been as soon. After the fi rst lockdown we found that we remained exceptionally busy for a good 8 to 10 weeks. Maybe due to the open ended nature of the recent lockdown people decided not to wait for stores to reopen? Oh well, business is still good so we can’t grumble. It’s just funny how we get so greedy when times are really good.

As this month’s issue is focussing on Car Seats I thought, unlike normal I would also focus on them too! There’s a fi rst for everything I guess.

Firstly I’d like to touch on the sale of seats and the diff erence between selling a box and advising a customer, and the rewards that will come as a result. We all love the idea of a customer coming in store knowing what they want. They ask if we have it, they ask what our price is and if we have it at the right price they buy it, simple. But is this best for our customer and most importantly for their little one?

As the market becomes more and more swamped by brands launching an ever growing range of seats at prices that sometimes make you scratch your head at how we can all make a profi t, the car seat market is becoming more complicated for us stores but easier for the customer. To your average customer iSize means safe and easy to fi t, it also means I can buy that and it will As the market becomes more and more swamped by brands launching an ever growing range of seats at prices that sometimes make you scratch your head at how we can all make a profit, the car seat market is becoming more complicated for us stores but easier for the customer

fit. From the customers point of view the need for advice has reduced. Also, as safety has increased the price has reduced. No longer is it guaranteed that price will dictate quality.

On the flip side of the coin are us guys. We have a finite amount of room on our shop floors and in our store rooms. If we displayed every car seat from the three big car seat brands (Maxi-Cosi, Joie and Cybex) we would have to have room for almost 100 different seats! None of us have the room to display those so we select a range that we know the majority of our customers want. We all know what happens when we plump for a new seat and overlook another. Yep, the customer wants to see the seat you didn’t get.

This is where advising over selling a box comes in. The customer will still come in looking for a specific seat but taking the time to ask the customer why they’ve picked that seat provides you with some amazing insights many of which will actually point to the fact that the customer is picking the wrong seat. By showing the customer the best seat from your smaller, tailored range the customer will appreciate your advice and guidance more than simply taking their payment in exchange for a box. You will find customers will recommend you as they feel special and that you genuinely care about the wellbeing of their little one. From experience, customers are happy to increase their budget and spend more if you take the time to show them alternatives and highlight the benefit of the extra spend.

This leads me nicely on to iSize. If you’re not doing it already you must commit to iSize. Yes you need to carry a none iSize group 0+ and even a couple of none iSize group 1 options, but customers are more aware of iSize than ever and they expect it. You will always get someone with an older vehicle that needs a good old Tobi (other seats are available in the market as they say on TV), or someone that is happy to forego safety for budget. But the vast majority and I mean vast majority want iSize. If they don’t know about iSize already a short chat about the benefits of the additional safety and they will soon want an iSize system. The industry is heading in this direction and we all need to be on board.

Here’s John’s top tip! Never under estimate the power of an ADAC test! Customers won’t know what it is at first but when you explain how it’s something much coveted in the industry and how it means an even safer seat for their little one people will be hooked on it. You’ll find many of the seats they’ve previously perceived as the best for them become irrelevant due to a lack of ADAC certification. Best of all when a friend sees their swanky new seat and asks why they didn’t get the same seat as them they’ll impart the information on to their friend and you may even get a visit from a concerned parent looking for their own ADAC seat!

The sale of group 0+ car seats is easy, after all customers are coming to see your range of prams. The car seat is a simple add on like a bag or footmuff most of the time. Getting people in to your store when they are ready to move up to the next stage of seat is different.

So, how do you get people back in store to buy their next stage seat when it’s so easy to pick one up online or from a local Halfords when they’re out for a drive on a Sunday afternoon. Simple, you need to incentivise them to buy from you. And there’s no better way than with a

As the market becomes more and more swamped by brands launching an ever growing range of seats at prices that sometimes make you scratch your head at how we can all make a profit, the car seat market is becoming more complicated for us stores but easier for the customer. loyalty discount or freebie. This is where it becomes important to keep your prices sensible. If you keep your prices at RRP you have room to offer a deal for someone to come back. Many brands are working hard to ensure pricing is respected and many of your most popular seats will no doubt be selling for full rrp so this shouldn’t be too hard. If Mrs Smith has a car seat and base she bought from you and she’s ready for the follow on seat for her base offer her a discount or a free accessory for the seat when she buys it from you. The customer feels valued as they are getting a better price or freebie for being a loyal customer and you get a sale. Ok so you’ve had to give away a discount or free product but you’ve made a sale you may have never had. After all it’s better to make 20% on something than 30% on nothing.