Share this
Twitter
Myspace
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Facebook
Export PDF
Print
E-mail
TagsBY JERRY MILANI
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Not depending solely on its current formula for success, Diapers.com, which has to date been a Web-and telephone-based purveyor of diapers and hundreds of other baby care supplies and related products, has opened its first retail location, The Baby Registry, on Valley Road in Montclair, just a quick stroll from the company headquarters in the same town. The company is betting that moms- (and dads-) to-be will want the personal touch that a retail location offers in assembling its registries.
"For certain products, consumers want to physically set their hands on them," said Devra Siegel, manager of The Baby Registry. "Demonstrating how a stroller folds up can be the difference between getting the right stroller and one that just looks good online."
"A woman might go to a 'baby megastore,' and she may have a checklist but no idea which items will fit her needs best," added April Lowell, associate manager. "There may be walls and walls of items, stacked higher than anyone can see, but which ones does she need? There is no product education. We help in that process."
The Valley Road concept store is the first of many planned nationwide, according to Siegel, with other New Jersey locations in the works. Opened on Dec. 8, the spot has served as a test location of sorts, with the primary focus on registries but with an eye towards straight retail sales on site in the near future.As such, the store is still a work in progress, with thoughts changing daily on which products to display, which should be more prominent, and which don't need to be at prime eye-level. One item a customer might have some difficulty finding in the showroom is – ironically – diapers, which have managed just a small display in the corner, among the many products for which Siegel is trying to find room.
Taking up significantly more space in the showroom are three items that Siegel sees as critical for new parents and where her product specialists are most helpful, and where most registries begin: car seats, strollers and nursing/feeding supplies.
"Car seats are completely confusing to most new parents," she explained. "There is so much functionality to go through, we almost always start by demonstrating them. Car seat safety is so important, we don't want that to be something they go to at after two hours of looking at other products. The right stroller and nursing supplies are also critical, while most of the rest are just personal preference."
Diapers.com hopes that by bringing its items into retail locations like this one, it can significantly increase the number and value of items placed on registries, but more importantly, improve the total sales of those items. While Siegel couldn't give specific figures, in particular because there are only two months of data and many of the parents who have registered haven't yet had their baby showers, let alone the babies, she indicated that the dollar value of registries placed through the store are running about three-to-four-times the Diapers.com average.
She believes that educational programs, such as the "Pregnancy Survival Series" on Mondays in February and the "Mom vs. The American Academy of Pediatrics Guidelines" event on March 30 in conjunction with nearby Mountainside Hospital, help new parents understand the need for personalized assistance.
"Most new mothers don't know, so we must have the knowledge," said Siegel. "Some come into the store with a list and are very educated, they have done their Consumer Reports lists. Others come in with no idea what their needs are, or that they could put diapers, formula and wipes on their registries, for example."
The Baby Registry also issues each customer a questionnaire to help guide specialists in the right direction, with budget one of the key concerns.
"We have the well-known, quality brands like Graco, right up to the highest-end brands," added Lowell. "We have checklists and tools on the Website, but an educated product specialist makes all the difference."
For more information, visit The Baby Registry by Diapers.com.
