AIBU to think shops should put the children's/babies' section on the ground floor?

[GingerPCatt]

Just home from shopping in town and every shop except in the mall and specialist baby shops had the children's stuff up a level or two. Big stores like boots and M&S. You would think sections that people with pushchairs would be more accessible. I was browsing for clothes for DS, but after a couple of shops I couldn't be bothered to look for the lift. And if there's no lift, forget it! I'm not carrying DS and the pushchair upstairs.

You say that they're there to run a business, not provide a service to the public. But the point of the business, by and large, is to make money.

If I can't get to the clothes, or it's a massive hassle (pram in the lift at the other side of the shop, for example), I won't be making the effort. I'll just shop elsewhere. Which means I won't be putting my money into their pocket. Poor business plan.

So YANBU, OP.

Yanbu! This really pisses me off. The Clarks shop in our town has children's shoes upstairs and there isn't even a lift and there never will be because it's a listed building. The only shops that have children's clothing on the ground floor in our town are Next and Monsoon.

I always thought, since pretty much all shops did it, that there must be a particular reason for it; a bit like why all shop/cinema doors open outwards (to prevent crushing in an evacuation). I had presumed it was for the reason Beehatch was given.

But the majority of people going into a shop are not likely to be pushing a pram unless it is a specialised shop for parents. Which Boots is not and nor is M & S.

Both are shops which will get busiest when shoppers are on their lunch breaks from work during the week, and want to quickly get in and out of the shop having found the goods they want.

YADNBU

Its ridiculous as well as no adequate loo facilities for people with babies and push chairs. Many a time I have simply had to go to the loo with the door wedged open. Places like M&S should have good facilites all round for people with children.

But most people don't have prams, Pooh!

All people who complain about things like this here I wonder if they complain to the company who can actually do smething about it in RL.

We are in a credit crunch, big business ARE folding, companies are worried about thier performance, I have noticed alot more places trying to encourage people to give feedback on thier services.

If enough people complain about he same problem, they should look at it.

Squeaky - but where is the money? With the parent browsing in m&s or boots, or the person dashing in on lunch break for a sarnie? I know which demographic I would be pandering too.

And ditto to Clementine

The pramless, be they disabled, a bit infirm, on a lunch break dash or just plain lazy outnumber those prampushers hugely.

How many hours, as a proportion of your entire shopping life, do you think you'll spend with a buggy?

Or rather, how many £s as a proportion of your lifetime spend do you think you'll spend pushing a pram?

That's fair. But presumably these shops have children's sections on the basis that they're hoping to make money out of them? So siting them so that people with children - their target audience for that section - can't access them seems a little nonsensical.

I'm not saying that they should be the only thing on the ground floor and I agree that the sort of thing that lunchtime shoppers are after (food hall at M&S for example) should be very easily accessible, but it just doesn't make sense from a business point of view. If your target audience can't access your goods then it's wasted sq footage.

But you can access the goods, assuming there's a lift or a place to leave your wheels.

Another perspective; women looking to buy toddler or baby clothes vs the number of women looking to buy women's clothes. And the £s they're going to spend.

I was told by a manager in such a shop that the childrens sections were upstairs in order to prevent children leaving the store easily if their parent was shopping and distracted.

In a large retailer every inch of floor space is analyzed, everything has to justify it's place on the shop floor. M&s make far more money from women's wear which is why it is in their prime selling area, kids wear doesn't come close in terms of units sold or turnover. Even if kids stuff was moved downstairs to the front of the store it could never compete with women's wear. The same goes for pretty much every retailer, Clarksville for example don't want to be seen as a kids shoe shop because their kids only out sell their women's for 2 or 3 weeks a year.

Possibly because the world doesn't revolve around parents/children? Prime space goes to the best selling departments/lines, or whoever paid the most to have their product there. Boots/M&S /etc don't make their bread and butter from kids clothes.

What nancy says - there is a massive amount of analysis done on footfall, spend, ambience etc and different store layouts are tried, analysed and tweaked to maximise revenue.

They put the most profitable items in the most prominent and easiest access areas.

Shops need to maximise profit; look at the numbers that are failing.

I doubt there are any which can afford the risks of a costly gesture to a niche subset of shoppers.

even where they have a lift, its usually tiny and hopeless on a busy saturday, the local boots (with kids stuff upstairs) loses LOADS of business because people see the queue to use the lift and go elsewhere. Clarks have their kids section up a few steps at the back (though they do offer to help carry the pushchair up)

Our Clarks does annoy me. Children's shoes upstairs, no lift and nowhere to park pushchairs. So I don't go there. And as I'll have had a child in a pushchair for 6 years by the time I'm finished that's a lot of shoes to miss out on.

Don't mind about any of the others though, as long as there is a lift.

YABU. People buying baby things in boots or M&S usually go into them with intention.

They put things at the front that people often buy just because they've seen them. The market for non baby related things is bigger, surprisingly enough!

In the two M&S stores near me, all the men's stuff, and the children's, is on the top floor.

I always thought there had to be a lift in stores over a certain square footage for wheelchair users? I have had several rows in Next and strangely enough HMM regarding their customer lifts bring full of stock.

HMV not HMM

Used to work for a large retailer. It is all about destination departments and footfall and increasing profit per square foot in those departments you may pass through. You'll often find kidswear next to restaurant, toilets, toys etc on an upper floor. Main exception would be where there was limited or no lift access.

You probably need baby stuff or children's clothes (they grow out and wear out).

The people shopping for adult clothes want them, or quite fancy something, but they don't need it.

If you make things slightly more hassle for someone who needs something they will buy it anyway. If you make things slightly more hassle for someone who doesn't need anything, they will wander off somewhere else.

You only have to count the number of people on the ground floor and then on the first floor to know why the departments are that way round. Last Saturday I went into Boots on ground floor (make and pharmacy around 40 ) on top floor baby stuff, beach stuff and opticians 3 customers. M&S ground floor food and womens wear around 100 people and first floor mens and childrens 5. In this day and age make it eaisest for the biggest number of customers.