Carter's and Disney: What we can Learn from these Successful Kids Brands?

31 July 2019

I found this abandoned mall in Rochester, New York recently.

That's the main entrance all boarded up.

It was a real mess, and definitely not a good area.

I didn't want to hang around to get more shots of the rusted, broken down shopping carts around the building. Or the graffiti and things in dark corners moving around.

It reminded me time will keep moving, regardless of what we do.

Working hard, achieving goals.

Taking a break for the Summer, between projects.

Focusing energy in the wrong direction.

Or even sitting idle with your talents going unnoticed.

Time just keeps moving along.

Its past the halfway point of the year.

Take a step back.

Stop what you're doing for a couple hours.

Review your plans from the beginning of the year, and your 5 year goals, and see where you are today.

It's time to adjust and redirect.

In the meantime, look at the stories below and hopefully, we all can learn something from them.

CARTER'S: BILLION DOLLAR BABY

Anyone buying clothes for kids in the past 154 years years knows Carter's. (They opened in 1865!)

While thousands of other kids stores have closed in the last year, Carter's last year sold twice what it did 20 years ago.

And has grown for 30 (!) consecutive years.

How is this possible?

What can we learn from them?

Carter's values distribution over brand name.

They create a mini brand for companies like Walmart, Amazon, and Target, and consider these retailers as distribution partners instead of competitors.

They use each companies' strengths to their advantage. Each brand has a unique angle to appeal to customers in that channel.

Bundling for Amazon’s bulk shoppers. Flashy colours for Target’s impulse buyers.

A lot to learn from this company.

How Carter's Became a Staple in Every Kid's Wardrobe

WHAT WORKS IN DISNEY?

This tactic used by ShopDisney.com was noticed by our friends at Skubana.

For some high-demand products, Disney limits how many units you can purchase. This gives a feeling of high demand, creating a sense of scarcity. And prompts shoppers to purchase more while the product is still in stock.

Another interesting tactic they use is tiered discounts (i.e. 15% Off $50 purchases, 20% Off $75 purchase, or 25% off $100 or more). This discount appears right below the "Add to Bag" button, providing an incentive for customers to spend more.

If you are running your own shopping cart, it pays to do your own A-B testing.

Try out each one of these ideas, one at a time.

See if your average order spend goes up.

Or if customers buy products with less visits and less abandoned carts.

Let us know how this works for you.

EVER HEARD OF AMAZON ACCELERATOR?

We always steer sellers away from Amazon's vendor programs.This is one area they just can't get right.

As another example, Amazon wants rights to buy your young brand at a discount as part of its Accelerator program.

Stay away.

This doesn't make any sense, on any level.

They might keep trying ways to capture more vendors, but as Jeff Bezos made clear in this year's earnings reports, third party sellers outsold Amazon.

Expect Amazon to continue following the money with third party vendors in the future.

Why you probably haven't heard of Amazon Accelerator