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Build-A-Bear: Experimental Retailing

Build-A-Bear Workshop is a national mall-based specialty store retailer with over 100 locations in the U.S. The stores target children and sell store stuffed animals. The unique aspect of the firm's retail offering is that children can create their own unique animals and clothe them. The stores' highly entertaining and interactive retail atmosphere is very effective at attracting customers to visit the stores. Additionally, Build-A-Bear has been able to use its retail format to create a strong brand image and build customer loyalty.

The environment in a store, the design of the store, and the presentation and location of merchandise in the store have a significant impact on shopping behavior. The design of a store can attract customers to visit the location, increase the amount of time they spend in the store or at the site, and increase the amount of merchandise they purchase. Store design can also have long-term effects on building customer loyalty toward the retailer by enhancing the retailer's brand image and providing rewarding shopping experiences that encourage repeat visits. Some store design objectives are to (1) implement the retailer's strategy, (2) build loyalty by providing a rewarding shopping experience, (3) increase sales on a visit, (4) control costs, and (5) meet legal requirements.

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[ Background Conversations ] >> And sadly, corporate America and department store retailing in particular, to venture on my own, because I felt there was an opportunity for more creativity in the retail marketplace, and while in most recent years things have been getting larger-- super centers, superstores, there was definitely a need for a niche retailer to be developed in certain particular categories or in certain particular industries, where more of personalized and customized attention could be paid. >> Maxine Clark began Build-A-Bear Workshop in 1997, with a single store in St. Louis. She had a hunch that traditional retail shopping could be greatly enhanced by making the customer's experience more interactive, by letting them build their own personalized stuffed animals. While on a tour of a local bakery, she noticed that the children were fascinated by the bread manufacturing process. This provided the inspiration for Build-A-Bear. >> And I saw the look of wonder in their eyes, and said "My gosh, these kids are having just as much fun looking at a bakery and how bread is made as they are when they're playing Super Nintendo." And something sort of clicked for me that sometimes we think it's something very complex that drives the marketplace or interests children, or even interests adults, when in fact it could be something quite simple. >> Ms. Clark sought the advice of a trusted advisor. Her friend's 10-year-old daughter, Katie. Together, they decided that the Beanie Baby craze was so hot that the marketplace was ready for an interesting variation on that theme. >> And she and I basically decided that stuffed animals was the way to go. And then we branched out and asked a lot of other children, teenagers, as well as children younger than her, what they thought of the idea and what kinds of things that they thought would sell, and what kind of animals we should have, and what kind of clothes should those be, and we got so many interesting suggestions from our kids, and so now nothing that we invent for Build-A-Bear Workshop doesn't have their seal of approval so to speak. >> Because the input of her customers is so vital to her business, Ms. Clark uses an advisory board to conduct her market research. Her trusted advisors are not high-paid suits with MBAs from top business schools. She'd rather hear what the experts have to say. Her advisory board consists of children, age 6 to 14 years old. >> They vary in age. A lot of them are available if you call them on the phone, send them a picture by E-mail, and they'll respond pretty quickly. But our world has broadened. Our customers are children and so they offer up a lot of ideas themselves that we certainly run past our advisory board, but it's like having this giant advisory board all at once on top of our more formal system, we have an informal system of many, many guests, ages 3 to 103, who provide us with ideas and suggestions for our business. >> After she decided upon the product and target audience, Ms. Clark was determined to make Build-A-Bear Workshop a memorable shopping experience. >> Well our store is not about selling anything specific. It's about creating a retail experience. Certainly people walk out with a product in hand, but it isn't about buying a teddy bear or a pig or a frog or any stuffed animal, it's about the creation of that stuffed animal and giving it a personality. And it isn't that you can't buy a teddy bear or a frog or a pig in anybody else's store. There's lots of stores in every mall in America and discount stores you can buy stuffed animals. But they come either already named, already stuffed to a certain hugability, a certain softness, whatever it is that you want, and they certainly don't have the personality and the wishes inside that our customers give it. And it's a totally interactive experience versus just picking an animal up off of a shelf and putting it in a bag and taking it home. >> One key to the success of Build-A-Bear Workshop is the active participation of the employee, with a customer or guest as they are known. Store managers recruit from both ends of the age spectrum to find enthusiastic and outgoing persons who can facilitate the creative process in children and adults alike. >> Our employees are very special assets at Build-A-Bear Workshop, just like they are to most companies, but in our company we really reached out to a different sort of worker. Yes, we want people who are experienced in the retail business and understand the hours and the work involved in running a retail store, but at the same time, we want people who have an appreciation for children, for the imagination of a child, and I'm not talking about a child who is necessarily in the traditional years of childhood. I'm talking about the child inside all of us, that knows how to have a little bit of fun and doesn't take themselves too seriously. And at Build-A-Bear Workshop, it's not about selling anything. It's really about connecting with that guest and helping engage them in the process of making their own stuffed animal. So it pulls on skills that may not have been traditional selling skills. We don't have quotas for people. We don't say you have to sell this much in order to be a worker in our company.It's really about creating a great guest experience. We want happy people, we want people who want to make a difference in the people that they come in contactwith every day, and there are many, many, fortunately, many, many people out there like that. And I think we've been able to attract a different level of worker than maybe theaverage mall store looks for. >> Build-A-Bear stores are bright, colorful, open, and look like a place to have fun. Builders begin at a wall covered with a selection of bears and other animals and work their way around stationsin the workshop, finishing at the cash registers. Employees are always nearby to answer questions or lend a hand. After selecting a bear to stuff, builders go to the "hear me" station where they can pick a sound for their bear. Sounds include Brahms Lullaby, a giggle, or "I love you." The next step is the "stuff me" station. At the Stuffeteria, children can pick fluff from bins marked "love," "hugs and kisses," "friendship and kindness," and send it through a long, clear tube and into the stuffing machine. An employee then holds the bear to a small tube while the builder pumps the foot pedal. In seconds, the bear takes its snuggly form. Before stitching the bear, builders must insert an important ingredient, the heart. The children follow instructions from the employee and rub the small heart between their hands to make it warm. Then they close their eyes, make a wish and kiss the heart before putting it inside the bear. While the bears are being sewn, the children can look through name books to select a name for their bear. The name of the bear is stitched on it, along with a bar code, so if a lost bear is returned to the store, a tracking system can find the owner. >> You don't want to lose your teddy bear. >> At the "fluff me" station, builders brush their bears on a bath tub that has spigots that blow air. Then children create a birth certificate or a story. The program is simple enough for children to follow by pressing color coded keys. And finally, it's dress-up time. Children can select from a wide array of clothing, tuxedo and bow tie, prom dress, cheerleader, baseball outfit, denim hat and jumper, ballerina, nurse, clown, and sweaters. Accessories include hats, shoes, sunglasses, purses, umbrellas, back-packs, sports equipment and jewelry. The bears go home in a cub condo. A box shaped like a house that has windows and a door. >> A sense of fun permeates every aspect of the Build-A-Bear Workshop experience, and the enthusiasm of the staff is contagious. >> Shopping here is fun because someone can come in and create their own animal. They can put into it whatever they want to put in it. They can make a special bear for someone that's ill, or a newborn baby, or a best friend. >> Any employer will tell you that teamwork and training are two key elements that enhance employee performance. Build-A-Bear Workshop employees are associates, receive extensive training in customer communication and are taught the value of working effectively as a team. >> Teamwork here at Build-A-Bear Workshop, we feel, is a very important part. All of our teams and all of our associates work together as a team to create a great work environment, and a great experience for our guests who come into the workshop. All of our team members know that one part of the team, when they're functioning properly and great, it affects all the other parts of the team. Our training here at Build-A-Bear Workshop has a lot of training about the experience that's created with guests as they come through the workshop to create and make a teddy bear. Our training goes to things such as how do you talk to guests and communicate with them as you go through the stations of Build-A-Bear Workshop? Such as how do you communicate with them and include them in the experience of putting stuffing in the animal? How do you communicate with our guests as far as what if I can put a heart and kiss a heart and put that inside the teddy bear? How do you communicate and work with guests at each of the other stations in the workshop? Such as the "dress me" station where we're going to pick out clothing for the bear, and how do you communicate with guests to work on creating accessories to go with that outfit? A lot of our training has to do with each of the stations to Build-A-Bear Workshop and how you communicate and include guests in that. That's what predominantly our training is focused on. >> At all times, Build-A-Bear Workshop associates strive to create a positive first mpression for their guests. They feel that by creating a great customer experience, the sales will naturally follow. >> A lot of our training has to do with when you first meet a guest. What are the ways to greet them and welcome them into the workshop? That training is very important. That first impression when a guest comes into the workshop, a lot of our training deals with that first impression. How do you get someone excited when they first come into the workshop about building a teddy bear, and about being creative n building one? And we do focus on sales, but not as much as a lot of retail companies out there. Our focus on sales is as a result of our focus on customer service. We realize that by doing great customer service with our guests, the sales will follow. >> Most entrepreneurs willtell you that they have to be sensitive to customer needs. Maxine Clark credits her customers with many valuable and important suggestions. >> The customers played a major role in the evolution and actually the creation of our company. From the beginning, we put out a store that we thought that they would like and find entertaining. But from that moment forward, it was up to them. We found our bears and our pigs and frogs and puppy dogs all have to be as stylishly dressed and outfitted as their child and adult counterparts. So we bring new products, whatever the fashion says is important. >> By any standard, Maxine Clark is a phenomenally successful entrepreneur. She offers this advice to novice business people. >> I think I would tell any young entrepreneur, thinking about going out on their own business or creating their own businesses, to be sure that you have the energy and are willing to take the time to make the commitment that's necessary. It's a constant, almost 24-hour a day job when you're running the show. If something goes wrong, they don't call anybody else, they call you. It's great to have a successful business, and if that's what you want, there's no get rich quick scheme. It just takes a lot of time and energy and personal commitment that may not be for everyone. So I don't recommend it for everyone, but I do recommend it to people who see a possibility and want to go after it with all their heart and soul.

Each station within Build-A-Bear is labeled with signs that identify the products offered at the station. This type of signage is known as ________________________.

Multiple Choice

A) promotional signage

B) virtual signage

C) boutique signage

D) point-of-purchase signage

E) category signage