Retailers lure parents of powerful tweens

Retailers struggling to attract shoppers wherever they can find them are discovering the best way to a young girl’s purse is through her parents.

A growing army of tweens ages 8 to 14 has more money to spend, but parents control most of it, so retailers are attempting to influence them by offering more wholesome, modest products for which parents are willing to pay.

“Tweens wield $43 billion in spending power annually and influence the spending of billions more on everything from cell phones to vacations to automobiles,” New York consumer behavior and marketing firm EPM Communications Inc. said in a 2008 report.

“These 21 million U.S. children are still largely influenced and guided by their parents - but eager for independence and to be recognized as individuals,” the report found.

Many parents are stepping in to make sure their children are exposed only to age-appropriate products, as younger children are increasingly being targeted by advertisers.

“[Tweens] have become and continue to be involved in important household decision making,” said Ira Mayer, president of EPM Communications. “Retailers advertise to parents, but manufacturers advertise to kids to try to get them to make consumer decisions. But there are even efforts now to target both moms and children at the same time in different ways.”

Only Hearts Club, a California doll maker that aims to deliver a positive message to young girls, has a simple motto that attracts toy-seeking parents: “Celebrate girlhood.”

“There are products out there that are marketed to both teens and younger girls, so the things they see now at the age of 8 may be what 12- or 13-year-olds saw a decade ago,” said Len Simonian, president of Only Hearts Club. “But we want little girls to be little girls for as long as they can.”

Only Hearts Club targets girls from 4 to 10. The products are well-received by both mothers and daughters because they “let the girls do what they love to do in an age-appropriate manner.”

“Our dolls have stories that are real; they do ballet, horseback ride, have slumber parties and have pets. They simply let girls be girls because they have plenty of time to grow up” Mr. Simonian said.

Only Hearts Club dolls are carried in Target stores nationwide. They are also sold at Sullivan’s Toy Store on Wisconsin Avenue Northwest.

Owner Tam Sullivan chooses not to sell products such as MGM Entertainment’s popular Bratz dolls, which have been criticized for giving young girls an unrealistic and inappropriate perception of beauty.

“When we buy, we buy based on our preference, and what we feel is appropriate for our store. I always thought [Bratz dolls] were creepy,” Mr. Sullivan said.

But if a customer comes in looking for that product, he said, “We just don’t go there; we don’t explain; we don’t buy them.”

Instead, he redirects customers to the products he finds appropriate for young children.

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