1. Customer Strategy + +
Trendy, cool, and relevant appeals to this growing demographic.
By Lora Schrock
What Do You Have
to Offer Tweens?
has to do with something [the wearer finds]
very relevant.”
To keep on top of what’s trending in gift
products while getting them into the hands
of young teens can be a challenge, but the ef-
fort can lead to results at the register and for
the kingdom.
Know the customer.
To successfully sell gifts created for Gen Z,
retailers need to start, as the song says, at the
very beginning, by determining who the ac-
tual customer is.
Vicki Geist, buyer for Cedar Springs
Christian Stores (Knoxville, TN), says at her
store moms and grandparents are the main
buyers of gift items for tweens. “Hardly any
young people are buying without other fam-
ily bringing them in.”
AdultswantingtoinstillChristianvaluesinto
children are constantly on the look out for qual-
itygifts.However,saysEdNizynski,presidentof
LighthouseChristianProducts,retailersneedto
remember tweens are consumers, too.
“Mom will likely be the person to intro-
duce teens to Christian products,” he says,
“but we need to be careful to not underesti-
mate their interest in Christian products or
their buying power.”
In her experience, Laura Lung, president
of Bob Siemon Designs, has seen these kids
have strong opinions about what they want.
“They’re making their own choices when it
comes to apparel and accessories.”
Retailers should balance their efforts be-
tween who’s doing the buying and who’s us-
ing the gift item.
“While parents and grandparents may
purchase these products, I don’t think they
do it in a vacuum,” says Kerusso Creative
Development VP Lorri Carter. “It’s impor-
tant to target the end user, even it they aren’t
paying for the product.”
Stay current with trends.
Staying on top of what’s relevant to this audi-
ence is vitally important in creating and selling
Christian gifts, says Turner. “This age group is
very interested in gift items—if they’re trendy.
Retailers need to carry what’s ‘in’ right now.
You have to be quick with what’s cool.”
One way to learn what’s popular is to con-
nect and listen. “Use the tweens and teens
you know,” says Turner.
Lung suggests retailers visit stores tweens
frequent to see what they sell and how they
merchandise. “Just go into a Forever 21 or an
Anthropologie or look online to see how many
gifts and accessory items are being sold.”
Retailers who want to stay ahead of the
curve should set up a focus group by recruit-
ing children of regular customers or devel-
oping relationships with local youth groups.
Invite them in, order pizza, offer some free-
bies, then ask for feedback on your gift prod-
uct selection. You may be surprised at what
they consider cool (and it may not be what
their moms are buying for them).
You’ve seen them everywhere—
young teens taking selfies,
wearing earbuds, sending
texts. Known as Generation Z,
the iGeneration, and Tech Gen,
young teens born in the late
1990s and early 2000s are a
growing demographic the mar-
ketplace is taking note of. Not
only do these tweens have their
own spending money, they’re
interested in Christian gifts,
but only if they’re designed and
merchandised properly.
“I do feel it’s a demographic we need to be
going after,” says Michael Turner, director of
new market development at Send The Light
Distribution. “To have something a tween or
teen wants, it has to be relevant—and trends
are usually quick to change. Doing a cool t-
shirt or piece of jewelry isn’t trendy unless it
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2. Customer Strategy + +
The Official Magazine of CBA22 CBA Retailers+Resources | 01.15
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Other ways to stay up-to-date include
keeping up on social media, finding out what
youth workers are seeing and hearing, and
attending the 2015 International Christian
Retail Show in Orlando, FL, where gifts for
tweens and other children’s product trends
will be discussed.
Cross-market.
Retailers can promote this category to both
parents and tweens by creating attractive
lifestyle displays that include a wide array of
merchandise.
“The challenge will always be for ven-
dors to design appropriate gift items that
moms and grandmothers would choose to
buy and items that teens will actually enjoy.
There’s a similar challenge for retailers to buy
and merchandise the right products,” says
Nizynski. “Cross-merchandising and prod-
uct knowledge is key in selling the variety of
products for this age group.”
Lung thinks retailers can go a step further
and create an area in their stores that speaks
to the teen shopper. Anything related to tech-
nology, especially accessories to bling out cell
phones, should be displayed along with more
traditional gift items such as jewelry, books,
t-shirts, journals, and picture frames.
It’s important to remember that tweens
are much different consumers than their
older siblings, the Millennials. From the gift
product they’re interested in to how they
think about it, young teens are their own
unique group, and retailers need to market
accordingly. In Carter’s experience, impulse
items tend to be purchased predominantly
by young teens.
“I’ve been at events where teens and pre-
teens dig through a box of buttons to find all
the options before choosing their favorites,” she
says. “I’ve never noticed an adult doing that.”
Encourage spiritual
development.
Even as the Christian marketplace changes
with time, its core goal of encouraging spiri-
tual growth and spreading the Gospel mes-
sage remains the same. Nizynski sees reaching
the tween market as an outreach opportunity.
“Eveninstoreswhere[gifts]mightnotsellas
well, we encourage those retailers to continue
their efforts, as ministering to our youth is ex-
tremely important, needed, and is what we’ve
all been called to do,” he says. “Those who buy
things for teens and tweens can influence what
these kids see and read. Sometimes we need to
make our youth interested for their own good
that they’ll realize one day.” R+R
Experts caution retailers not to underestimate
the buying power of Gen Z.
Experts caution retailers not to underestimate
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