BabyTech can be touched and purchased at any time!　What is the response to the BabyTech corner at Akachan Honpo LaLaport Fukuoka Store?

The Akachan Honpo LaLaport Fukuoka Store, which opened on April 25, 2022, has the nation's first permanent BabyTech Corner. At that corner, visitors can not only experience a variety of baby tech products, but also actually purchase them. Tetsuya Nagata, Representative Director of Papa Smile, interviewed Yuya Yamagata (hereafter, honorifics omitted), Buyer of the Product Division of Akachanhonpo, about the concept of the BabyTech Corner at the store, customer response, and future development.

Akachan Honpo Co.
Merchandise Division Buyer
Yuya Yamagata

Papa Smile Co.,Ltd
Representative Director Tetsuya Nagata

Permanent corner with top priority on "informing customers about BabyTech's products

Nagata:Thank you very much for your time today. Could you give us an overview of the Akachan Honpo LaLaport Fukuoka store?

Yamagata:The store opened on April 25, 2022, on the third floor of Mitsui Shopping Park LaLaport Fukuoka, a commercial facility in Hakata Ward, Fukuoka City. The store features a one-stop shopping area for maternity products and maternity supplies, and a product lineup focused on childcare for babies up to 12 months of age, making the store easy to select and understand.

Nagata:You have a permanent BabyTech section in this same store.

Yamagata:Yes, we do. We have set up a BabyTech exhibit area where consumers can directly see, touch, and purchase products and services that use technology to solve the challenges of child-rearing. Here, we hope to introduce a variety of items that utilize technology according to the theme and propose ways to make family life, including child-rearing, more convenient, enjoyable, and enriched.

Nagata:Thank you. Can you tell us about the concept of the Baby Tech Corner?

Yamagata:First of all, this will be the first time for us to actually sell BabyTech products. Therefore, our first priority is to convey to customers how good our products are and the benefits of using them.

At the same time, simply displaying products on the shelves is the same sales method as a mass electronics retailer. Therefore, we are very conscious of communicating to customers why Akachanhonpo offers these products, for example, by displaying a poster that reads, "BabyTech will change the way you raise your child.

Nagata:If you look at the picture of the sales floor, you see a poster that tells about BabyTech's efforts.

Yamagata:While most product posters are usually one-word statements, the BabyTech Corner's posters are designed to encourage customers to stop and read them, with photos and text that clearly convey the content of the product.

The mainstay of the corner are "bedtime" and "shortening time" items that are useful for families raising children.

Nagata:Please tell us about the products placed in the BabyTech section.

Yamagata:Broadly speaking, the most common products are those related to bedtime care. Specifically, there are monitor camera products and body motion sensor products for watching over sleeping children, as well as "Ai-Nenne," a smart bed light from First Ascent. In addition, we also offer "time-saving" products that are useful for families raising children, such as cooking appliances and washing machines that specialize in "separate washing.

Nagata:I think this is the first time that a cutting-edge baby tech product such as "Ai-Nenne" is sold at a general retailer, so it is something that the baby tech industry should pay attention to!　On the other hand, I felt that the choice of products, such as a food processor for babies and a washing machine in the form of a bucket for separate washing, were excellent as a gateway to baby tech products, as they are familiar to customers and can easily conjure up images of scenes in which they will be used, and can be easily utilized in child-rearing.

Yamagata:The choice of products for this project was based on my own experience in child-rearing and interviews with people around me who have raised children. I knew that "putting a child to sleep" was the most burdensome and stressful part of raising a child, so I chose this area as the main focus of the product because I wanted people to be able to spend more time with their children by using BabyTech products in this area.

Also, from my own experience, parents are generally at home when they are cooking or doing laundry. Children think, "I get to play with them! So, they will think, "Look at this! or "Let's play with that! But as a parent, you may think, "Wait a minute! But as a parent, you have to say, "Wait a minute! I always felt sorry for that. In the end, I had less and less time to spend with my children due to housework. I think baby tech is really wonderful because it eliminates the need to feel this way. So, we selected products from the perspective of "What is the work that makes the child wait? We selected products from the perspective of "What are the tasks that make children wait?

Nagata:That is a story that hits home for me as someone who has raised children. When I was doing housework, I often said to my daughter when she came to talk to me, "Daddy's hands are tied right now," and later regretted it.

BabyTech products sell well because they are "easy to understand" and "allow the user to visualize the usage scenario!

Nagata:Can you tell us about your customers' reactions to the BabyTech Corner and the most popular BabyTech products?

Yamagata:The electric swing (cradle) attracts the most attention. We place them near the entrance of the BabyTech Corner, and customers often stop to look at them or come into the BabyTech Corner to take a closer look. The most popular product is the Panasonic baby monitor. The most popular product is the Panasonic baby monitor, which sells about 250 to 300 units per month at all Akachan Honpo stores.

Nagata:It seems that baby tech is attracting attention because it is easy to imagine the scene of use, such as putting a child to sleep or watching over a sleeping child.

Yamagata:At this point, the obvious trend is that easy-to-understand baby tech products are selling well. Products that are difficult to understand inevitably require explanation by sales floor staff. Our system is not yet perfect in this respect. For example, there seems to be some resistance to items such as "Ai-Nenne" that include words such as AI and big data in the product description.

In fact, all of the sales floor staff received direct training from the executive in charge of First Ascent when dealing with "Ai-Nenne" in the BabyTech section. However, it was still difficult for them to fully understand the product. I feel that staff training in this area regarding BabyTech is an issue for our company in the future.

Nagata:Another store where you display your BabyTech products (Akachan Honpo Seven Town Shodozawa StoreI have also given advice to your staff on explaining your products. I am sure that we, who often stand on the user's side as moms and dads, may be able to provide explanations that are less difficult for your staff members.

The biggest challenge was the question, "What is baby tech?" was the question "What is BabyTech?

Nagata:Could you tell us about the most challenging part of setting up the BabyTech Corner this time?

Yamagata:The BabyTech Corner does not necessarily carry only completely new products. We had half of the products we used to carry, and we sometimes wondered whether we could sell them under the term "baby tech. For example, it was difficult to determine how to tackle the issue of selling products that had been sold under the category of "childcare appliances" under the term "BabyTech. It was also difficult to have a consistent idea of what "baby tech" is, and whether we could confidently say that this product is "baby tech" - in other words, "product selection.

Nagata:If we think of baby tech in the form of a pyramid, child-rearing appliances may fall under the broad base of the pyramid. More specifically, white goods, such as dishwashers and robot vacuum cleaners, are also very useful for families raising children, so I think it is fair to say that they are included at the base of the pyramid. And as we approach the top of the pyramid, there are baby tech products that utilize big data and AI. However, if things continue as they are now, both sellers and buyers will be confused, so we, as communicators, would like to define what baby tech is and show the world what we mean. Hearing Mr. Yamagata's story, I felt the need to do so once again.

Taking a broad view of baby tech and contributing to family happiness through a variety of products

Nagata:Can you tell us about the future development of the BabyTech Corner?

Yamagata:We are also considering adding dishwashers and automatic vacuum cleaners, which were mentioned earlier, to our baby tech section. However, since our goal is to be able to sell products as Akachan Honpo that are not sold in many other retail stores, we still believe that we need to introduce products that are linked to AI and apps. ......

Nagata:So you are proposing not only tech products for babies, but also a variety of tech products that reduce the burden of child-rearing itself and improve the quality of family life.

Yamagata:Yes, I think there is a great opportunity for us as a business. I think there is a great opportunity for us as a business. That is why we are looking at various products based on the idea of "baby tech in a broad sense," as Mr. Nagata mentioned earlier.

That is why we are also checking out "clothes dryers" and "futon dryers," but then our competition would be volume electronics retailers. It is very difficult to beat these highly competitive stores, but we sell more Panasonic baby monitors than the electronics mass merchandisers, and we believe that there are hints in the fact that "Akachan Honpo has many contacts with people who have problems with childcare" and "displays that clearly show scenes of use". We believe that the hints can be found in the fact that "Akachan Honpo has many contacts with people who have problems with childcare" and "displays that enable customers to clearly imagine the usage scenario.

Nagata:At an exhibition of BabyTech products, we had an experience that visitors could understand "This is how it's used! We are also very pleased to be able to further convey to visitors how much BabyTech products can help them spend more time with their children. We would also like to make further efforts to communicate how much BabyTech products "help you spend more time with your child.

Yamagata:Ideally, when customers see the word "BabyTech," they will immediately associate it with "This saves me a lot of time and effort and allows me to spend more time with my child!" and they would immediately associate it with "this saves me time and effort and allows me to relax with my child! We are planning to make such efforts in our stores.

Nagata:That is precisely our challenge. We would very much like to work with you to establish such an image. By the way, depending on the response to the "Akachanhonpo LaLaport Fukuoka Store," will you be expanding the BabyTech Corner to other stores?

Yamagata:We hope to develop this concept for new stores to be opened in the future. First, we would like to confirm customer feedback and reactions at the LaLaport Fukuoka store, and create a sales floor that is easier to visualize.

Nagata:Thank you very much for taking the time to talk with us. We look forward to your future development in new stores, etc., and the reactions of your customers.

<links to related articles
Akachan Honpo Lalaport Fukuoka Official Website
https://stores.akachan.jp/282