Children's retail witnesses major upswing during summer

Traditionally, the retail sector is said to benefit the most from DSS consumer spending and this year is no different. The entire city seems to be in a dizzying shopping frenzy affecting people from all cross-sections of society. While the summer sales are too tempting for grown-ups and seasoned chocoholics, even children are filling up goodie bags with discounted items at the malls.

Toy stores and retailers of children's items consider summer vacation an excellent time to attract young buyers. There is a big upswing in children's retail comprising stores targeting kids aged zero to nine that revolves heavily around clothes and toys. In a report published by Gulf News last year the toy industry in the Middle East has been estimated at being worth about $1.5bn. Nearly 50 per cent of the GCC's population is under 16 years of age and spending per capita in the region on toys and games is estimated to be Dhs1200 which is only bettered by the USA.

Summer is regarded a busy season for toy stores because of the school vacation and also because of the DSS activities attracting the little ones to the shopping malls. During holidays children have much more free time on hand to spend playing with latest toys. The forecast for the toy industry is positive thanks to the new and innovative toys being introduced to feed that imagination of the children.

The ninth edition of DSS benefited a number of business establishments including tourism, hospitality, retail and service establishments, most of which reported sales increase of 15 to 20 per cent. This year too a similar trend is being witnessed and children are seen as contributing to retail sector's soaring business in a big way. Toys, stationary, sportswear, outerwear, tailored clothing, eyewear, watches, fragrance, footwear, theme parks, TV channels make up a considerable chunk of the retailing industry.

Devrim Anadol, Buying & Logistics Manager, Toys 'R' Us, UAE says, 'We have noticed that the footfall at the toy stores increases during summer.'

'In fact the timing of opening of our new store at Festival City was so planned so as to make the most of the vacation time when we can expect a very good turnout of young visitors. Summer is a very busy period for Toys 'R' Us; the sales of gaming hardware and software increase tremendously during this period. Prior to their holiday, customers visit the store to pick up travel friendly, portable gaming hardware like Sony's PSP and the Nintendo Game boys etc.'

'The sales of traditional Indoor games like Monopoly, Pictionary, Jenga and Sudoku also see an increase as do the sales of pools and waterslides.'

Anil Nair of Benetton echoes the sentiment and mentions that vacation time is the best time to attract youngsters. Coupled with DSS entertainment the kids enjoy the shopping experience manifold. In fact, retailers too introduce enticing offers for children to have a wholesome shopping experience. Today children make discerning buyers who make their own decisions when it comes to buying clothes and shoes, back to school items and of course, toys.

Nair agrees that children make up an important sector of the society contributing immensely to the retail sector. 'We wanted to make children part of the international Benetton experience and found this the right time to interact with kids. And therefore we introduced the Cool Craft Competition, something which started out on a small scale but is now very popular among the children.

'We saw that children have plenty of time on their hands and there is no better time than now to challenge their creativity. The Cool Craft Competition encourages children to make their own painting on art paper, which is given to them free of cost. Kids send back unbelievable creations using cereals, leather, cotton and many more materials to complete their masterpiece painting.'

'It is also reassuring for parents to know that their children are not whiling away their time doing nothing. Every participant is given a goodie bag which contains a Certificate of Participation. Aside from this, they also get to participate in the Benetton Kids Fashion Show at Modhesh Fun City.'

Adds Ali Hussain of MotherCare, which has recently added three new stores across the UAE making it a total of 21 stores, 'Summer being longer time in Dubai, it is definitely our major and prime focus area. As Dubai has beautiful beaches and world class tourist attractions, we look into beach wear and accessories more specifically.'