Which retailer should we target? (Canadians & petition)

This is a follow up to this thread: http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=13336#post105417

I looked at petitiononline.com and the way they're set up you need to have a specific person or business that you're submitting the petition to. So I'd like suggestions of what business you feel would be best to submit to.

Ideas:

- zellers
- sears
- the bay
- canadian tire
- toys'r us

or any others you might think of.

It needs to be a big enough company that they will be able to have the sales & demand to sponsor recaro's new seat, so small companies won't work. Ideally a company that you can also purchase through a website would be best as it would give customers who don't live near the store an option to purchase.

I still have to work out the wording of the petition and admittedly it may take me some time since I have a 2.5 yr old and a 5mo old to care for... but it is on my list of things to work on. Once I get it finished, I'll post the draft for input and assistance in proofreading. If you think of anything in the meantime that you think is important to be included, please PM me or post to this thread.

Thanks.

Hmm, or I just had the thought that perhaps the "To:" could be "Canadian Retailers of Child Safety Seats" Then it could be submitted to multiple companies - which was my original intention.

How does that sound?

snowbird25ca said:

Hmm, or I just had the thought that perhaps the "To:" could be "Canadian Retailers of Child Safety Seats" Then it could be submitted to multiple companies - which was my original intention.

How does that sound?

Click to expand...

I like that idea. Let's get them all interested in it and make them fight it out...or maybe they all bow to our demands and sell it.

Do we send the petition to the CEO's and President's of the retailers or does it go to sales and marketing?

Rylan has a dental appt tomorrow but if I get a chance I'll look at petitionsonline.

JaRylan said:

I like that idea. Let's get them all interested in it and make them fight it out...or maybe they all bow to our demands and sell it.

Do we send the petition to the CEO's and President's of the retailers or does it go to sales and marketing?

Rylan has a dental appt tomorrow but if I get a chance I'll look at petitionsonline.

Click to expand...

Mmmm, good question. My thinking is sales and marketing, but ceo's and presidents probably wouldn't hurt either. The more we contact the higher likelihood of making an impact, right?

Can we make more then one petition? Could we make two or three and have one for Canadian Tire one for Sears one for Zellers?

This is exciting, I can't wait to see what you come up with

Hi-this sounds like a great idea! Please keep us all posted. Although it's not a huge chain, there are the TJs stores in Vancouver(3), Victoria, and Kelowna BC. They sell a lot of carseats/brands.

K.

babychild taxi said:

Hi-this sounds like a great idea! Please keep us all posted. Although it's not a huge chain, there are the TJs stores in Vancouver(3), Victoria, and Kelowna BC. They sell a lot of carseats/brands.

K.

Click to expand...

They also sell online!

Here are links to executives for Sears, Canadian Tire and HBC (Zeller's, The Bay)...for the life of me I can't find anything on Toys R Us.


Sears Executives

http://www.sears.ca/gp/browse.html/...no=16398811&searsBrand=core&me=A10FHFRJZ0GJG3

--------------------------------------------------------------
Hudson's Bay Company - HBC, Zeller's, The Bay

http://www.hbc.com/hbc/mediacentre/mediakit/biographies/

----------------------------------------------------------

Canadian Tire Executive Management
http://investor.relations.canadiantire.ca/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=ctc.ca&script=2200

----------------------------------------------------------

Toys 'R Us

JaRylan said:

Here are links to executives for Sears, Canadian Tire and HBC (Zeller's, The Bay)...for the life of me I can't find anything on Toys R Us.


Sears Executives

http://www.sears.ca/gp/browse.html/...no=16398811&searsBrand=core&me=A10FHFRJZ0GJG3

--------------------------------------------------------------
Hudson's Bay Company - HBC, Zeller's, The Bay

http://www.hbc.com/hbc/mediacentre/mediakit/biographies/

----------------------------------------------------------

Canadian Tire Executive Management
http://investor.relations.canadiantire.ca/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=ctc.ca&script=2200

----------------------------------------------------------

Toys 'R Us

Click to expand...

WOW! Thanks Jaqui!

My thinking is that we'll go along the lines of just one petition to car seat retailers in general so that we can give it to as many companies as possible. If we were to do a seperate petition for each company, it might split up the signatures so that we didn't get an equal amount for each company and might not show the same amount of support. More signatures is more convincing IMO, and if there was a possibility of people signing different petitions and not going to the other ones, it's likely that they could all be weak or one would do better than the others and the others wouldn't have enough signatures to make an impact.

That's my thinking anyways.

Something else I've been thinking about is that it would be a good idea to hold off on the final draft until the seat is actually released in the US and we can have the definite specifics to include in the petition. My current plan is to address the lack of choice in convertibles that are able to harness to a higher weight - to show that there would be demand and that it is filling a gap that exists in the marketplace. Also to mention the tall harness slots - since most kids outgrow their carseats by height before weight, the extra room in the harness could allow some kids to make it to the age of 4 in a harness - as required by Canadian law, that might not otherwise make it in most other convertible car seats.

That's the line of my thinking anyways. Anyone have another angle in mind, or do you think this is a good one? Show that it fills a market gap and there's demand for it, and add in something that just might generate a bit of corporate responsibility? HBC has the Safe Kids CAnada campaign, so perhaps they'd be more responsive to advancing the options in child seat safety?

Guess I'm thinking out loud here. Anyone want to brainstorm with me? I write best when I have tons of ideas to pick and choose from... sometimes ideas also generate new ideas - ya know what I mean?

eta: Maybe once it's all written up and the petition is started, we could contact local media about the petition? Raise awareness and hopefully the coverage would help motivate the companies and get more signatures from the general public?

That sounds good to me!

In the mean time do you think we should have a petition for seats that just go higher then the 48/65lbs range so that we can show to the companies and TC that there is a want/need for these seats?

Jewels said:

That sounds good to me!

In the mean time do you think we should have a petition for seats that just go higher then the 48/65lbs range so that we can show to the companies and TC that there is a want/need for these seats?

Click to expand...

I was thinking about that, although my other thought was a petition that would streamline the process for manufacturer's of seats approved in the US to get the seats imported and approved in Canada. But then that's beauracratic red tape and I've no clue how to word or an idea to present.

Does somebody want to put together a petition for one of those? I can help with proof-reading/wording type stuff once the bulk of it is together. I just don't want to bite off more than I can chew.

snowbird25ca said:

eta: Maybe once it's all written up and the petition is started, we could contact local media about the petition? Raise awareness and hopefully the coverage would help motivate the companies and get more signatures from the general public?

Click to expand...

Going to the media will likely garner more attention and action than a petition will - especially an online one that cannot be verified by anyone who would receive it.

Petitions aren't a particularly effective means of change, though it may help just to raise public awareness.

I will sign and help out when it gets going though.