Pester power

A year ago, Hyderabad-based Sesha Bhattar Raghu, 43, a central government employee working in the civil division of the postal department in Nagpur, was looking to buy his first car.

The recently-launched limited edition Maruti Alto Xcite, with a price tag of Rs 335,000, caught his eye. Raghu's 11-yearold son Srikalyan, however, thought different. Rather than an expensive passion red Xcite, which boasted power windows, colour bumpers and a remote boot opener, Srikalyan was adamant his father buy a regular blue Alto without the frills.

Raghu heard him out, and then patiently convinced him that the Xcite would be a better buy.

Getting his son's go-ahead was important - not just because the purchase was being made on his birthday. "He is aware of many things," says the visibly proud father. "Even in things like detergents he has a view and tells me the difference between Rin and Vanish," adds mother Mythraiyee.

Cut to Mysore, some 140 km off Bangalore. Two years ago, Bhargavi and Deshikan Hemmige considered a host of cars before purchasing a Ford Ikon for Rs 6.5 lakh. To make that decision they took plenty of expert advice - from their 10-year-old son Sriram Hemmige. "He does not go by the looks of a car or a bike but by its features," points out his mother. Deshikan, who works in the senior management of a DTH service provider, is now preparing to upgrade to a luxury car because his son has some real convincing arguments for doing so.

Pester power has just got more savvy, more smart - and more informed. Rather than nagging their parents to unleash their rising disposable incomes at random and flashy products and services that catch their eye, more and more of India's close to 400 million kids below the age of 15 are becoming connoisseurs and specialists that their parents lean on.

That's good news for marketers in a consumption-driven economy. And it is not just because this burgeoning brood is demanding more clothes, more shoes, more toys and more games. Rather, these kids, who could be three-year-old tykes, are huge influencers in their parents' big-ticket purchases - from luxury cars to laptops. Experts peg the market for products and services in which kids play the role of an influencer at an astounding $100 billion (Rs 450,000 crore).

R. Sriram is the founder of bookstore chain Crossword, now a part of retail chain Shoppers Stop. Today, he is one of the founders, along with Rama Bijapurkar and S. Raghunandhan, of Next Practice Retail, which offers business design, incubation and consulting services to consumer and retail businesses. You would expect him to be a keen observer of consumer behaviour. And he is - particularly of the young ones. For instance, Sriram explains that Raghunandhan consults one of his sons, aged 10, when it comes to loading applications on to his iPad and iPhone; older son, all of 16, is the anointed trouble-shooter for dad and his friends' gadgets and gizmos. And Sriram's five-and-a-half-year daughter Kavya Anita prefers to keep her father's mobile phone on silent to shut out the intrusive world while playing games on it. "There is a key difference in the power equation today - children freely question their parents, demonstrate superior knowledge on quite a few fronts, are very clear about their preferences and generally talk to their parents as equals," says Sriram, 46.

Sriram has seen how the Indian consumer - young and old - has changed since he started Crossword in 1992. "Parents used to make the purchase decisions for children then; they were less exposed to media, there was no Internet, children's TV was not as pervasive. Today, children are very well informed about consumer products, personalities and consumer brands and are vocal about their preferences when they shop."

A Cartoon Network 'New Generations' survey last year found that kids heavily influence their parents' buying decisions. Some of those findings: 43 per cent parents of 4-6 year olds agree that kids today have far more influence on their parents than when they were children; 29 per cent parents of 4-6 year olds have their children asking them to buy certain brands when they go shopping; 31 per cent parents of 4-6 year olds say that their children ask them to buy products they have seen advertised on television. The survey universe included face-to-face, in-home interviews of 3,431 kids in the 7-14 age segment and 1,012 parents of kids 4-6 across 15 centres (including all metros) in India and in SEC A, B and C (socioeconomic categories).

The biggest window to the world for Indian children, who make up 20 per cent of the world's young population, is, of course, satellite television (go to The Tele Tubbies on pg 88 to read about the health hazards of too much television). For instance, 92 per cent in the Cartoon Network survey were frequent television watchers. Recent research by Nickelodeon, a children's entertainment channel, reveals that while almost all children watch TV, only a fourth of the 600 kids surveyed played outdoors on a daily basis.

Then there is the Internet that is proving to be a great channel for marketers to create a buzz through newsgroups, chat rooms and blogs about products ranging from clothes to music. If the vehicles for communicating with the target audience are buzzing with activity, products themselves are being designed and packaged keeping kids in mind. Hindustan Unilever, for instance, does not tinker with the taste of its jams and ketchups in a bid to attract kids.

Instead, the foods and consumer products giant draws in the kids with small innovations and value-additions. So the Kissan range of jams and ketchups also has packages that can be "squeezed"; and the jams in a jar have a free "Tom and Jerry smacker" thrown in. Such differentiation extends to personal products like toothpastes. One brand extension Pepsodent Kids, for instance, has flavours like Tangerine Burst and Luscious Lychee to make the toothpaste more child-friendly.

Clearly, few can afford to ignore the young consumer. Not marketers. Not retailers, either. Future Group founder Kishore Biyani, who has built retailing brands like Pantaloons and Big Bazaar, is eyeing a 30 per cent stake in Amar Chitra Katha, or ACK, the Indian story teller publication. Biyani has big plans for ACK, which go beyond publishing.

"We want to build Amar Chitra Katha as a Disney out of India with edutainment, theme parks, games and merchandise around its characters," he says. Earlier this year, ACK had acquired India Book House, a distributor of books and magazines, including children's literature. Biyani already has an apparel range targeted at children. But he clearly felt he needed to enter other segments. "It is a challenge doing business throughout the year for children with merchandising and clothing for most of the time - about 7 to 8 months of the year it is really about school uniforms."

For organised retailers, toys are an obvious segment for their little customers. The endeavour now is to build on it to create new business lines that appeal to kids. Take, for instance, C.L. Raheja-promoted Shoppers Stop Group, which has an arrangement with Britain's Mothercare. It has added the ELC, or early learning centre on to the toys business. ELC offers brands from Mothercare that encourage learning through play. "We have constantly looked at new brands to upgrade the offerings for the children section, from basic clothing and fashion needs to child care and educational play," says Vinay Bhatia, Customer Care Associate and VP, Marketing and Loyalty, Shoppers Stop.

Similarly, Shoppers Stop has married the growth in kids' channels on television with the toys business. Some examples: Toys based on popular cartoon characters like Ben 10, Hannah Montana and Disney Princess characters like Snow White and Cinderella. For companies already in the kids space, this is a great time to leverage that platform.

Consider Camlin, the traditional Indian stationery and art brand, which has been holding the "All India Camel Colour Contest" for the past 30 years. Some 3.5 million children from over 5,000 schools across the country participated in the competition last year and the target this year is 5 million children from 10,000 schools. Now, Camlin is - in core-sector industry jargon - integrating backward by setting up pre-schools.

"We have to build a relationship with children when they are young (as also with young parents) and build brand loyalty right from the time they decide to go to school," says Dilip Dandekar, Chairman and Managing Director, Camlin.

The company has three pre-schools today and plans 50 by next year, all of which will be in and around Mumbai. The same pre-school premises will be used for promotion of arts and crafts with classes for older children, young parents and even senior executives and professionals. "The idea is to involve the brand with the complete lifecycle of a consumer," says Dandekar.

That lifecycle often begins even before the child can get down to voicing his or her preference. Today's young parent, at least in some socio-economic sections, is starting to make decisions based on the views and opinions of other parents and, accordingly, evaluating its purchase decisions. Take Rishtee K. Batra, Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad and mother of one-year-old Shirin.

"I subscribe to many new-mom e-mail and social networking groups and, every once in a while, usually around the time that a baby reaches a developmental milestone (like sitting up, crawling, walking or talking), parents circulate news about what kind of new toys fit this new stage. That's how I come to know about a lot of the age-appropriate toys that I've bought for Shirin," says Batra. These include the Bumbo Baby Seat, before a toddler can support herself, and the Fisher Price Jumperoo, when she can sit upright.

Wordsworth's immortal line "The child is the father of man" takes on a new meaning in consumption-driven India. One original interpretation of that line is that the appreciation of natural beauty - like a rainbow - plays an important role in one's development to adulthood. Today, one is tempted to rewrite the poet's ode to: "The consumptiondriving child is the father of man."