Car Seat Retail

Brigala · Feb 12, 2013

So my husband and I are pondering the idea of opening a retail car seat store in our community. We'd probably sell more than just car seats, but that would be a main focus. There's really just not much in the way of Juvenile Products stores out this way, and absolutely no specialty baby gear boutiques that carry car seats. The only non-chain baby furnishings store I know of in the area is Tidee Didee and they have a tiny selection and no car seats or strollers at all. I want to offer an alternative to BRU/Target/Walmart with a more personalized shopping experience.

Does anybody here retail car seats? I'm trying to get a head start on my research and thought it wouldn't hurt to ask here. Do you order car seats directly from the manufacturer or from a regional distributor who carries multiple brands? I guess I'm trying to save myself a little leg work in trying to figure out who I call to get wholesale pricing and stuff; whether I should start with calling Dorel and Evenflo and Graco (Clek?) or whether I should be searching for a general juvenile products distributer instead.

christineka · Feb 12, 2013

I've seriously thought about a store like that in my area. I'd sell cloth diapers, baby wearing stuff, organic-y baby things, wooden toys, and similar, but I've realized my community will not support a store of that type. We are a walmart or amazon.com town. People are too cheap to support an expensive baby store here. I do think that if I could figure out how to buy stuff at auction and have a store like nobetterdeal.com my town might support it.

Stelvis · Feb 12, 2013

Honestly, while I think that's a nice idea, I doubt that it's a viable business model in most communities. People will come in your store to look at the seats and then go home and order them for 30% less on Amazon.

There just isn't that much margin to be made on baby items when you're competing against the big guys.

The exception would be if you're in a major metropolitan area and can cultivate a wealthy clientele who are willing to pay more because you are guiding them as a consultant.

Brigala · Feb 12, 2013

I'm hoping to provide stuff in a wide range of price points, but high-end stuff like Radians and Clek seats would probably be special-order. In my community I would probably expect to sell mostly Evenflo and Graco and Dorel seats & strollers.

Part of what I want to offer would be a home delivery service - so I can reach outside my immediate neighborhood.

Stelvis · Feb 12, 2013

Brigala said:
I'm hoping to provide stuff in a wide range of price points, but high-end stuff like Radians and Clek seats would probably be special-order. In my community I would probably expect to sell mostly Evenflo and Graco and Dorel seats & strollers.

Part of what I want to offer would be a home delivery service - so I can reach outside my immediate neighborhood.

But, I can order a seat on Amazon and have it delivered to my house next day for free already -- faster and cheaper than you could do it. The markup Amazon is getting on car seats is less than the markup you'd have to get to stay in business. Also, as a small-volume retailer, you wouldn't get the price breaks the manufacturers give to the big guys.

Brigala · Feb 12, 2013

I do live in a major metro area, but there's nothing like this on my end of the area. There are some high-end baby boutiques 45-60 minutes away, on the other side of Portland. I don't think I could make this work offering nothing but high-end seats; I wouldn't expect to sell a lot of those.

It might not work, you're right. But I think it has a chance because of the direction things are moving demographically out here on the east side.

What I'm asking is not so much "what do you think of my business model" (I'll continue working on that myself as I do some market research) but "who do I contact first - manufacturers or distributers?"

Brigala · Feb 12, 2013

Stelvis said:
But, I can order a seat on Amazon and have it delivered to my house next day for free already -- faster and cheaper than you could do it.

True, but Amazon can't show up with 3 or 4 car seats or strollers and let you look at them or even try them in your car before you decide which one you're going to buy...

Stelvis · Feb 12, 2013

Brigala said:
True, but Amazon can't show up with 3 or 4 car seats or strollers and let you look at them or even try them in your car before you decide which one you're going to buy...

Yeah, but I can order and return them for free infinitely from Amazon if I want. Or I can go to Target or BRU to look at them and then find the lowest price on my phone. If the bulk of your business will be everyday Graco, Evenflo, and Dorel stuff, well, there's plenty of places to go look at those already.

Phineasmama · Feb 12, 2013

There is a "boutique" baby store about 2 hours away from me, near where Jenfrogmom lives. I was just talking to her the other day and she told me the store owner said that they were going to stop carrying Britax seats because NO ONE wants to buy them in store because they can get them so much cheaper online.

And apparently the Peg Convertible sells like hot cakes

I think if you have the "higher end" baby gear, the kind of things that don't really go on sale that much, like Bugaboo and BumbleRide strollers, etc, it could work. And FOonf!

Brigala · Feb 12, 2013

Ok, well just humor me then.

I'm OK with investigating and finding out that it's not going to work, or even giving it a whirl and finding out that it doesn't go anywhere. I'm not even attempting to post my entire business plan here, but I have a lot of ideas and I think I know my area and while I'm not yet sure about the feasibility I still feel it's worth investigating.

Contrary to popular belief, some people actually do make a profit in small retail establishments.

So nobody so far knows whether you go through a wholesale distributor or order baby gear type stuff directly from manufacturers? That's all I was really asking... I thought someone here might know.

Stelvis · Feb 12, 2013

My educated guess based on my knowledge about the economics of retail is that most of the middlemen have already been squeezed out and that you probably have to deal directly with the manufacturers in most instances. But exact policies likely vary by manufacturer. You're more likely to be able to get set up with a manufacturer of high-end, low volume seats like Clek than, say Dorel, because you're less likely to add significant value to Dorel than you are to Clek.

I do know you can turn a profit as a small retail establishment -- I have friends that do so. But the only way they're successful us by selling things and/or providing services that can't easily be commoditized on the internet. Hence, there are no more mom and pop television stores.

Kegracin · Feb 12, 2013

Brigala said:
So nobody so far knows whether you go through a wholesale distributor or order baby gear type stuff directly from manufacturers? That's all I was really asking... I thought someone here might know.

I know britax was threw them back 5ish years ago there was a member on another board that sold them I think she's a member her as well.

There is a specialty store an hour from me that had recaros and some britaxs they may have also had graco...I was there looking for a crib I'm guessing a lot of there sales where cribs and the stuff that goes with them. I haven't been there in forever so I'm not sure what they carry now.

morninglori · Feb 12, 2013

Many of the boutique baby shops in my area go through a national distributor (who is actually in my town). Stanford Distributing/Baby News
BabyNews

I think you would be best served using a distributor and having a drop ship type agreement. I think you could then take advantage of the bulk pricing from the manufacturers as you are builidng your business.

HTH.

mevs mom · Feb 12, 2013

Most places you need a tax identification number before they will give you wholesale prices. We had a boutique store here but it wasn't that popular. It had nice stuff but often a year or so old because no one would spend the extra money.

Stelvis · Feb 12, 2013

Yeah, even the seats at my local Bed Bath and Beyond have 2011 DOMs -- because no one will spend $289 on a Frontier when they can get one online for $80 less.

jeminijad · Feb 12, 2013

If you were going to do it, you would have to create excitement, and build their perception of value. And you will have to pad your inventory with high margin items, and plenty of them.

So... you won't be able to plop the same Myride or Marathon on the shelf that the other retailers have. Getting unique but not scary covers comes to mind. Packages where you can charge for the fluff items, where cost is not so transparent that the customer can instantly draw a mental price comparison to the Internet (or would even want to, because they are hooked.)

Finding that perfect signage/interactive literature that creates the awareness that the car seat is not the same as the crib, and deserves more consideration.

I wouldn't bother with Cosco. Safety 1st only, on the Dorel front. But like Stelvis mentioned, this will all depend on the information you get when you inquire with the manufacturers about becoming a distributor. I'm sure they have order minimums, credit terms, etc.

Brigala · Feb 12, 2013

Thank you, everyone.

That does help.

I wasn't thinking Cosco either... More like maxi cosi, quinny, and maybe a few Safety 1st

VoodooChile · Feb 12, 2013

We have a nice baby boutique in one of our outdoor malls here--they sell nicer baby gear, cloth diapers, things like that. I haven't been in, but I did look at their website. If their store stock is in line with their online stock (which I know isn't always the case), it looks like they carry Recaro seats only. Since most people here tend to grab what they see at Target/Walmart/ BRU, I don't know how many of them they sell, but I have seen a few Recaros in vehicles locally (saw one today, actually), so I'm guessing they came from their store.

Brigala · Feb 12, 2013

My tentative plan is to carry a small stock of "demo" seats/strollers/etc. in the high-end range for customers to touch/feel/try but have customers special order those. And carry some less expensive, more popular gear in stock at all times (like, mid-range such as the Size4Me or the CA65/70 not like Apts and Tributes). But that's only a very tentative idea and a lot will depend on what I find out about wholesale pricing and how quickly things can be drop-shipped for a customer order. My husband suggested possibly having some "loaner" seats for people who are waiting for their orders to come in, too. I don't know how I feel about that from a safety standpoint, but from a business standpoint it might make sense. Anyway, like I said, I have a lot of ideas rolling around in my head. Some are contradictory and others obviously won't make it off the cutting room floor.

oakster · Feb 14, 2013

FWIW, our neighborhood baby store is also a Baby News affiliate, and they do a nice job of being relatively independent while being able to offer the benefits of the larger chain. They seem to do the lion's share of their business through registries--we are in an urban area where "buy local" is big right now, and pretty much everyone I know registered at one or another of the three independent stores in town, rather than at BRU (though this is also because our local BRU is awful and we don't have a BBB). If you have enough of that culture in your area--it seems to be growing--I could see that working, too; people aren't quite as cost-conscious when it comes to registries (and registry buyers are far less likely to comparison shop!) The stores here also all offer free tech installs if you buy a car seat from them; you have to pay if you bring your own seat.

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