EDITOR'S LETTER
the online retailer's website, take a short
style quiz, and subscribe to receive a
personalized fashion box for their child
five times a year. The box is delivered for
free and customers have a week to try
on the clothes, pick what they wish to
buy, and return the rest (also for free).
Each box contains six or seven designer-
brand items (e.g., 7 For All Mankind,
Adidas, and Guess) for children from
newborn to 14 years old. The standard
box costs US$98 (or $14–$16 per item),
FAMILY TIES: Malls'
Next Big Challenge
The family home is the new changing
room and the new shopping aisle. That's
the reality that online retailers such as
Kidbox are working very hard to create.
They're gaining ground, leaving mall
marketers with the very pressing task of
demonstrating value beyond shopping.
What child wouldn't be over the moon
after receiving a mystery box full of new
things picked especially for him or her?
That's what Kidbox does. Parents visit
while the baby box has five or six items
and costs US$68 ($12–$13 per item). And
there is a philanthropic element to this
enterprise, too. The company formed a
Kidbox Cares partnership with Delivering
Good, a nonprofit that provides new
clothing to children in need. For every
full Kidbox that a customer buys, a new
clothing item will go to a child who needs
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TACTICS / KID'S ENTERTAINMENT EDITION
it, via a charity of the customer's choice.
The proliferation of businesses like
Kidbox can produce both anxiety and
opportunity for any shopping center
marketer, but the latter should be the
takeaway. Not only do centers have
opportunities to offer Web-based Kidbox-
like services in partnership with their
retailers, but they can also strengthen the
placemaking aspect of their promotional
programs. Bringing people together
for meaningful interaction might soon
become shopping centers' best and only
differentiating asset. You might as well
get ready and position your center now.
Myriam Beaugé, Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]