Source: buybuy Baby promotional video
Buybuy Baby creates digital platform to help parents raise healthy and happy babies
Bed Bath & Beyond’s buybuy Baby chain announced yesterday an expansion of resources available to parents to help them navigate their way through their own individual journeys.
The “welcome to parenthood” branded campaign was launched to draw attention to digital offerings that the chain developed in response to customer/parents who reached out for help.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=extbDU1yr_w
“They’ve told us that they don’t know what they need to buy or where to start, and they want more trusted guidance to help them get the best they can afford for their families,” buybuy Baby told Retailwire. “So what welcome to parenthood is about is providing expanded resources to support parents every step of the way, to be a one-stop shop for their baby and their kids.”
The program, which is intended to accentuate the retailer’s digital-first approach, includes multiple complementary initiatives:
Parenting Pros: A curated team of parents who are pediatricians and therapists to provide advice on baby health and wellness issues as well as self-care for parents. The program is designed to take parents from pregnancy through the first 1,000 days of their children’s lives.
The Village: This service designed to work in concert with Parenting Pros is made up of a curated group of buybuy parents who represent different stages of the parenting journey. It presents personal stories and real advice on a variety of topics important to parents.
Digital concierge: Customers will be able to chat directly with registry and product experts on the buybuy Baby site and its mobile app. The service, which runs seven days a week, helps parents prioritize their purchases or registry lists.
Live streaming and on-demand content: The retailer recently launched live streaming on its Facebook and Instagram channels to help parents connect with and support one another. Plans are in place to build the channels to take the mystery out of parenting.
Virtual education: Mommy Mingle is partnering with buybuy Baby to offer a range of online classes and free webinars on topics like baby proofing, breastfeeding, behavioral changes and infant and child CPR.
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Will buybuy Baby be successful in creating a reputation as a valued resource for parents with its “welcome to parenthood” platform? Which elements of the platform do you see as most likely to drive engagement with consumers?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
A successful retailer doesn’t just sell merchandise. They become part of their customers’ lives. The best brands have figured that out. Look at Nike, Lululemon, Amazon, and others that have figured it out. That’s exactly what buybuy Baby is doing. They are providing for a lifestyle related to parenting. They are creating and distributing value added content that is endearing their customers to their brand. While some of the “platforms” will be more successful than others, they are all focused on their customers being more successful parents – and that’s a winner!
This is a great idea for Bed Bath & Beyond. Content, community, and merchandise are all essential parts of modern retail.
The goal is to simply add to a consumer’s trust. The extra engagement gives the retailer more data which also improves their ability to sell a wider range of products more effectively at the right times.
I love this for the stickiness and authentic content. In my view (three grown children later…) parenting is like beauty, no one really knows what they are doing. Beauty has lead the way with UGC and tutorials and parenting has been a place for parent vlogs and blogs. Bed Bath & Beyond and buybuy Baby can really be a voice of authority, link to great content creators and lob softball recommendations to product (to maintain their voice of authority). If this platform prioritizes information and education over commerce it’s a long game win.
Buybuy Baby is making a great move towards increased customer loyalty and customer lifetime value. It will empower customers to be engaged for years and all its initiatives are brilliant.
As long as the retailers keeps the customer feedback loop open, they will continue to improve and increase the value of their resources which will keep customers loyal.
By serving new parents who feel tired, overwhelmed and lonely, buybuy Baby’s refreshingly empathetic and practical resource will succeed.
It really does take a digital village to raise a child, as parenthood can be isolating even without the pandemic. Now this online community fills market gaps for new parents seeking information, support and connection.
The health experts and social media groups are most likely to convince new parents to connect with buybuy Baby’s robust community.
It’s about time a children’s retailer realized the opportunity and importance of helping parents raise families instead of just selling them products. I’ve been wishing Target would figure this out, but I’m happy to see Bed Bath & Beyond taking the lead. There is such a chasm between what parents want and how retailers sell – don’t get me started! I’ve seen pregnant women have to cut their shopping trip short for lack of something as simple as a place to sit, mothers having to return to their vehicles to nurse babies, or walk the full length of a big box store to find a place to change a diaper. Most parents won’t stick around for that kind of inconvenience. And nine times out of 10 strollers are merchandised in a way that makes it hard for parents to test drive. This initiative is filling such an incredible need that it’s almost guaranteed to succeed. Helping parents learn, succeed and access help at all stages of having and raising their kids – it’s a no brainer.
Back in the dark ages when I had my kids we had to rely on other parents, TV experts, and the written word. When my grandson was born my daughter had a Babies “R” Us’s parenting campaign geared to Millennials, plus mommy bloggers, influencers, and friends who researched the hell out of everything.
This is what the buybuy Baby campaign brings to the table. Having all of the specialists and information and products in one place is a tremendous help to a new parent. Welcome to Parenthood looks to be an extremely well thought out program. It will definitely be of help to new parents.
They always say babies don’t come with user manuals but, done right, buybuy Baby might just change that for good. It’s an excellent idea but, like all excellent ideas, it all depends on how it is executed. All of these elements should drive engagement although I’d hedge my bet between The Village and Parenting Pros. The watch out will be keeping “politics” out of the process so the site doesn’t devolve into a series of partisan debates over issues like vaccines. etc. If that can be avoided this program has high potential if marketed correctly.
This announcement represents a concrete step for buybuy Baby to create strong emotional bonds with its customer base. The company’s “welcome to parenthood” digital platform transcends transactional dimensions while building community and establishing company credibility. Bed Bath & Beyond has realized the value of customer engagement and relationships for new parents. The opportunity is enormous and, properly executed, will be a significant growth catalyst for the company.
I assume success for them is becoming a trusted source of information that translates into purchase and higher LTV. They can be successful as long as people aren’t looking for information on products and then hopping over to Amazon to find them for less. I definitely think there is a gap in the market, no other retailer owns a more holistic approach to new parenthood. Trust will be a huge component of this. My wife relied heavily on our pediatrician and her mom’s group for everything with our kids, and still does.
I think they should find ways to partner with hospitals and doctors’ offices to being the “relationship” early on. Immediately after birth is very stressful so ideally the seed is planted before, during the planning stage with things like registry.
The live streaming and virtual education is interesting. I think that might drive high engagement. They will have to find a way to get closer to the shopper. The days of one-size-fits-all are gone. People look to bloggers and other experts who are “like them” so a retailer program runs the risk of being too generic.
This is a move in the right direction if they can execute well and keep a pulse on the authenticity and trust connections.
This is a really smart way to earn credibility with their target customers. On a tangentially related note, pet brands would be wise to do something similar. I see the Parenting Pros as especially helpful as long as there’s a strong search function to guide consumers’ inquiries.
I don’t think so. Consider — books and programs written with the sole purpose of providing this value to parents are of questionable and spotty value. Why would an operation which is primarily a store believe it can do better? It can’t and it won’t.
While in the ad biz, creatives regularly talked about making things that were “better than traditional TV.” Except they forgot that even the most ignorable sitcom required years and years of hard work in development. No store can magically begin to offer similar value to books and other content developed over years — just by wanting it to be so.
The one instant benefit of this campaign is the potential to go viral. New parents love talking to other parents. Just takes a few to put on social media how helpful just one of these services are and buybuy Baby will be ingrained as a resource on this space.
It will be worthwhile to seek the testimonies, quotes, reviews etc that come out of this campaign. If managed correctly, this customer-level feedback could be as valuable as the campaign itself in building a viral network and trusted community.