An in-store promotion April 25 at Kremp Florist in Philadelphia drew a crowd of more than 450 people, generated a customer e-mail list of almost 300 and helped the shop clear out inventory — all with "basically no cost" to the business. How did they do it? Webkinz.

Webkinz pets are the latest craze among Web-savvy kids ranging in age from four up to pre-teens: Once a child has a Webkinz stuffed animal, he or she uses a "secret code" to sign up for an account online, an action which puts the stuffed animal into a virtual world. In this world, the child can earn or buy points to decorate the animal's home, play games and even interact with other Webkinz members.

"When Webkinz first came out, I got a small assortment to test," says Chad Kremp. "They were a slow sell but it was a new idea so it took a while for customers to catch on. Then after about eight months of having a full display rack, we sold them all in about a week. This was in January of 2007. It's been crazy ever since."

More than 450 people visited Kremp Florist in Philadelphia during an April Webkinz promotion. The Webkinz stuffed animals are the latest trend among Web savvy pre-teens.

Recently Ganz, the maker of Webkinz, encouraged customers to take part in a weekend-long "Webkinz Extravaganza." During the extravaganza, the company discounted select products for retailers to give away as prizes for different games and contests. In exchange, Ganz listed participating retailers on its Web site. In Philadelphia, however, Kremp  did  things differently.

"We had all the games and contests but instead of buying more product to give away, we used product we already had," Kremp says. "The kids loved it because they were able to choose from our entire selection rather than giving them only a small amount of items to choose from as their prize."

To promote the event Kremp Florist sent out e-mails to its already established 500-person Webkinz customer list, and posted an announcement on a storefront marquee, a low-cost promotion that yielded high results, says Kremp. 

On the day of the event, kids and parents lined up at Kremp Florist to check out the products and participate in the contests and games that went from 4 to 7 p.m. To capitalize on future marketing opportunities, the shop asked customers to provide e-mail addresses before they participated in the games.

"In just three hours we had 293 e-mail addresses," Kremp says.

Despite the large crowd, Kremp says the event stayed well organized, and it's something the florist will "definitely" do again in the future.

"We are always concentrating on getting people into the showroom," he explains. "Selling Webkinz gets parents into the store, who we hope to turn into flower buyers [if they are not already]. And it also introduces the kids to us for future prom flowers!"

--Kori Kamradt
kkamradt@safnow.org

 


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