Despite the slowdown, a bevy of marketers-from Godrej to Reebok to global biggie Healthtex-is rushing in for a slice of the Rs 5,000-crore children's market.

By Shailesh Dobhal

It's usually between a foot and four long; ever so often it holds you hostage, but far from complain, you actually love all the fuss; it can't arm-wrestle you, but it can and does arm-twist you into spending hundreds, and even thousands, of rupees; you adore it, but marketers simply, absolutely, kowtow to it. The 'it', ladies and gentlemen, is your child.

The economy may be slowing down and consumer goods sales stagnating, but marketers big and small are queuing up to do business with your child. Why? For one, the market for children's products-ranging from footwear to confectionery to playschools to toys-is estimated at Rs 5,000 crore and growing. Better still, some categories such as kids' personal furniture are brand new. The marketers are also betting on the fact that a slowdown won't stop mommy dear from spending on her little one(s).

Take a look at the line-up: Arvind Mills is ushering in the world's largest kidswear brand, Healthtex; Reebok, whose global kids-related business is $170 million (Rs 799 crore) big, is launching a for-kids-only brand, Weebok; Godrej & Boyce has rolled out a line of children's personal furniture under the iSpace label; and the Delhi-based Pink Elephant is going places with its playschool-cum-creches. ''Each area of the child's life is becoming central to parents, and that's triggering the desire to cater to the child, both materially and otherwise,'' notes Sanjiv Kumar, CMD of the Rs 125-crore confectionery marketer, Candico India.

The Big Woo The Small

Working mothers, affluence, satellite television, greater exposure, unprecedented peer pressure... blame it on whatever you want, the fact is kids are big business. In fact, companies that have traditionally catered to adult consumers are moving in to claim their share of the children's market. Hindustan Lever is using its Max brand (of ice creams and confectionery) as a springboard to other products aimed at children. There's even a 24-hour Indian channel, Splash, targeted at children, and it will soon have competition from Walt Disney.

For big-brand marketers like Reebok, HLL, Godrej or Arvind, targeting kids makes eminent sense. Growth in their core areas is at a crawl, whereas the children's market is largely untapped. Besides, no big capital expenditure or radical shift in strategy is required, which means that at marginal investment, the marketer can create new streams of revenue. Agrees Dalip Sehgal, Head (New Ventures), HLL: ''For us, Max isn't just an ice cream or confectionery brand, but a symbol of joy and vitality (for kids). In that sense, Max can be extended to biscuits, cereals, energy drinks and more in the coming years.''

Similarly for Mattel, Barbie is the passport to selling not just the doll, but an entire range of apparel, personal care products and school merchandise to small girls. Indeed. The theme for most marketers seems to be: stay with the kid, and cater to more and more of its needs. Making that happen is primarily the double-income family phenomenon. National Council of Applied Economic Research estimates that in the past five years, the average number of rich households (with incomes of over Rs 5 lakh per annum) has grown by over 33 per cent, allowing parents to spend more on their children. ''Five years ago, the premium kidswear segment was virtually non-existent,'' points out Govind Mirchandani, President, Arvind Mills. ''But now we see plenty of opportunities.'' The company expects Healthtex-a premium brand-to rake in Rs 10 crore in sales in the first year of launch itself.

Mirchandani isn't the only one bullish. By end-2003, Reebok India expects its recently teed-off venture of supplying school shoes directly to schools (currently to Bishop Cotton in Bangalore and Selaqui School in Dehra Dun) to be its biggest volume generator. Sure, the margins are lower, but Reebok hopes to make up with volumes. ''Get the kid in the house,'' is what the rallying slogan is at Reebok, says Subhinder Singh Prem, Executive Director (Sales & Marketing). That apart, the company is launching a kids-only footwear brand, Weebok, and deepening the under-10 line in apparel. It is about to open its first-ever-internationally-kids and ladies-only store in New Delhi.

Creating purchase impulse or building brand among children, however, is a tricky affair. Simply because while kids are the consumers, they are not the decision-makers. Even among pre-teens, the direct purchasing power is limited. According to market researcher nfo-mbl's Junior Perspectives, 2001, the Rs 4-5 daily pocket money of an average Indian child (between seven and 14 years) is spent on impulse purchase of food items such as ice cream and confectionery. Therefore, children are primary buyers only for a limited number of categories. The onus on marketers? ''They need to define whether kids in their product categories are primary buyers, co-buyers, or mere influencers,'' says Poonam Kumar, General Manager, KidSearch, NFO-MBL.

In categories where kids are the primary buyers, unit price becomes crucially important. Little wonder, then, that chocolate brands from Cadbury and Nestle are veering towards the Rs 5-mark (albeit in smaller sizes) in an attempt to move the category from a predominantly kid-parent co-buying position to kid-alone impulse purchase. HLL-which probably is the only organised sector company to market candies at 25 paise-is using the twin plank of affordability and goodness to make its Max the biggest kids' brand in the country within the next three years. Explains Guninder Kapoor, Head (Foods), HLL: ''Max will be an impulse purchase brand, and Kissan a wholesome, children's food.''

If the product is high-priced, then the marketer also has to figure out how to ensure a longer product life-cycle. Consider the case of Godrej & Boyce's iSpace personal furniture for children. ''One parental question that haunted us during consumer research was this: what do I do with (the furniture) when the kid grows up?'' says Anil Mathur, Vice President, Godrej & Boyce. The answer: Godrej decided to launch modular units so that they could be dismantled and reconfigured into a bigger piece of furniture for a different use. A modular package also allowed parents to buy parts of the package, rather than the entire set. Projections are that Godrej & Boyce will sell 500 units of iSpace every month.

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