Market Research - Cloth nappy shop Wellington

[blossom]

ooohh, I want a shop like this over here too!!! 8)

[sarahw]

How exciting, just sad my nappy buying days are probably over. I'd still come and check you out , and as another South Wellingtoner I could help distribute fliers etc when you get up and running.

[k8ylou]

sounds choice! kiddy friendly stores are great. especially with a thomas train track set up to distract them for 20 minutes!

[frannym]

Just be careful with this. I know the lady at Mini Me in Petone said she has heaps of people check out the nappies in her shop and then buy online. She's supposed to get commission for this (but never has) but unless people say when they are ordering the online shops would never know.

the way to resolve this - you hold samples in your store and then order from the WAHM on behalf of your customer - they may even send directly to the customer for you. Your customer pays you, then you purchase from the WAHM at wholesale rate - and then the difference in price is your margin.

Great idea for a store!!

Let me know if i can help!!

Franny

[nikkiwhyte]

ooo you guys are great. I'll keep you posted with developments

[Minty]

Sounds great! I presume by 'bathrooms' you mean toilets? If so, this is a must - I can't believe places like Baby City don't have toilets when they are frequented by pregnant women - doh!

Maybe you could have a couple of get-together mornings organised, get a deal going with the cafe next door if they're any good for a discount on coffee/cakes etc. For example when a new Mum phones and enquires you could say 'Well on Mondays (or the first Monday of the month or whatever) we have a new Mums chat at 10am' and you could do a wee demo and then on another day perhaps do a session for those converting to cloth??? You could say 'would you like me to send you some information?' (perhaps by email, more environmentally friendly ), and it could include info about the chat session and demo, a discount voucher/code for the cafe so they can bring their own coffee and a discount voucher or some sort of special offer for your store. I know that if I phoned somewhere and enquired and someone took the time to email something like that I would probably keep it safe and be more likely to take them up on their offer. Plus some people are a bit nervous about approaching someone they see as 'really green' when they are only thinking about changing to cloth, so perhaps in a forum where there are lots of people, they would feel more comfortable (they could bring their whole antenatal class ).

Good luck

[ariayla]

What a great idea. I was looking into something like this in PN, but I'm a bit of a chicken to venture into something and it not work out.

I had in my mind that I would have samples of most of the nappies available on the market and stock in a range of colours the most popular in the shop (eg, fuzzi's).

I like your idea of hosting baby showers and the likes and having a cafe right next door is brilliant. Maybe you could offer a free coffe with every purchase or something like that.

[AbbeHG]

To get customers to actually purchase in store with you, you could have a rewards card system.
Many stores do this, you have a card printed and it's stamped each time they make a purchase. After X number of purchases they get something. It's simple, easy to manage and not over the top selling, it's simply an incentive to buy in-store.
Wish you all the best in your venture.

[new mum]

this is such a great idea, the ony problem I have with it is YOU'RE TOO FAR AWAY!!!
Anyone want to open a shop in Auckland :smt045

[Megan]

I wish I still lived in Wellington now! Great idea.
It would have been wonderful to see a range of different products when I was expecting. I'm happy with what we've purchased thanks to TNNers' reviews but seeing before buying would have helped me feel a lot more confident.
I like the loyalty card idea, Abbe.

[nikkiwhyte]

Mmmmm loyalty card... I like.

[posh]

I am salivating at the thought of a real live nappy shop in Kilbirnie!

I can't think of anything to add, but just want to add that I love the choice of location because it has PARKING!!! AND close to public transport!!! :smt023

[nikkiwhyte]

Yep, that was a big one. I know I don't bother going to shops that don't have parks (unless REALLY necessary).. and going to town with the toddler in tow.... *shudder*

I have an escapist. Hence the idea of the baby gate on the door... it might be problematic for some people trying to get in (well, those that aren't seasoned childcare center-goers) but I think the benefits of being certain that your child is INSIDE the shop when they go missing far outweighs the hassle of opening a gate!

And I'm sure parking a buggy outside wouldn't be a problem. There isn't a huge lot of foot traffic and the shop (providing we get it) has a glass front, so you'd be able to see it the whole time (when not trying to control the usual occupant of said buggy). Otherwise we will make sure we have space inside for babies in buggies

[legz]

A baby gate at the door is a GREAT idea!
Hey, you could host knit-achinos there perhaps???

[farlos]

I am excited about the sound of this new shop!!! I am a cloth nappy convert and love trying out new nappies etc... although I must say my favourite is the BumGenius, which is pretty hard to find in NZ at the moment, so would be FANTASTIC if you could stock these!? I would certainly be one buyer!! Also products made by WAHM's would be great too. I'm sure they'd love the support.

Good luck with it all and I hope it all goes ahead very soon!!