Build-A-Bear Essay

The Build-A-Bear Experience

Section One
“Build-A-Bear” is a store that offers an interactive make-your-own stuffed animal retail-entertainment experience. Customers have the opportunity to create their own unique stuffed animal complete with clothing and accessories of their choice. Each customer chooses an unstuffed animal and then works with staff members through eight “creation stations”: choose me, hear me, stuff me, stitch me, fluff me, dress me, name me, and take me home (in new stores there is a ninth station, love me). This is a fun, creative place where children can express themselves by making their animal their own, dressing it and giving it a personality and a name. “Build-A-Bear’s” core
customer is an eight-year-old girl; however, the concept appeals to a broad range of age groups and demographics, including children, teens, parents and grandparents. They also target parents whose kids could want to have a birthday party at “Build-A-Bear”. The average customer visit two to three times a year, either to create a new animal or to buy outfits. Therefore, previous customers are of course targeted. Overall, it is about the children. They have “cub advisors” who provide constant feedback, allowing “Build-A-Bear” to know exactly what their target customer wants and why. The objective of the “Build-A-Bear” experience is to bring the fun back to retailing. It is about creating a personal, magical connection with customers. Their mission is to deliver experienced-based shopping and to fulfill the widespread demand for stuffed animals. At the end of 2012 the “Build-A-Bear” company owned 351 retail stores in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, including 283 traditional and eight non-traditional “Build-A-Bear” workshop stores in the US and Canada and 60 traditional stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Franchises operated 91 “Build-A-Bear” stores in other international locations, including: Germany, Japan, Australia, Denmark, Mexico, South Africa, Thailand, Singapore, Gulf State, Norway, Brazil and Sweden. “Build-A-Bear” brands include make-your-own Major League Baseball mascot in stadium locations, and Build-a-Dino stores. The 2012 net retail sales for “Build-A-Bear” was $374,553,000. Consolidated e-commerce sales rose 7.7 percent. Therefore, the balance sheet remains strong with consolidated cash of $45 million at the end of the year. However, the net retail sales fell from 2011 to 2012. The 2011 net retail sales was $387,041,000. The percent variance from 2012 versus 2011 of -3.2 percent may be caused by the tight economy and the demand for electronic games in the toy market.
Section Two “Build-A-Bear” stores are usually located in malls worldwide.
There are company owned stores in the US, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland, and franchise stores in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, the Middle East, Mexico and South America. In each of the “Build-A-Bear” stores there is a wide assortment of merchandise. There are over thirty different styles of animals to be stuffed. The inventory changes frequently, with different bear styles arriving every week. There are also clothes, accessories, and music available to purchase for the stuffed animal. The clothes and accessories are updated to keep up with current fashion trends. They also have partnered with popular brands in fashion and entertainment, for example: Hello Kitty, Twinkle Toes and Hot Lights by SKETHERS, The Avenger and pop singer Cody Simpson. Limited-edition and seasonal merchandise is also available at times, especially around the winter holidays. The basic bear is about twenty five dollars. In general, stuffed animals can be purchased for ten to thirty dollars. Outfits usually cost about thirteen dollars, and accessories range from three to nine dollars (Teddy
Bears). “Build-A-Bear” has multiple modes of communication. There are two websites, buildabearville.com and buildabear.com. These websites allow kids to go online after making a bear at the store to play games and redeem gifts. There are also television commercials promoting the store. And of course the boxes the stuffed animals are sent home in are mini houses with windows and doors which advertises “Build-A-Bear” to all those walking by a kid carrying one. “Build-A-Bear” stores are designed with walls of unstuffed animals and outfits to choose from.
There is a stuffing machine that the kids put the fluff they picked in. The fluff is sent through a big pipe that ends up stuffing the bear. There is a station where the customer has to pick a heart for the bear. There is also a station where the bears can be brushed and fluffed at a “bath” table. There are also computers where customers make birth certificates for their stuffed animals. The stores are bright yellow and highly visual. The colorful appearance includes custom-designed fixtures featuring teddy bears and other themes relating to the workshop experience. The entryway spans the majority of the storefront revealing somewhat of a “theme park” destination in the mall. The six new stores that were opened in 2012 have a new highly interactive design, which features a bold new look and enhanced
experience. The magical experience of “Build-A-Bear” would not exist without the amazing customer service. Sales associates attend a three week training program at “Bear University”. They learn to deliver a magical customer experience that is one of a kind. One of their mottos is, “It takes a village to build a bear”. There is also great customer service outside of the store experience as well. For example, there is a bar code that allows a lost animal to be tracked and returned (this happens about five hundred times a year!)
Section Three One of the top priorities of “Build-A-Bear” going forward is to introduce more stores with the new store design. If they stay on track they will remodel forty to fifty locations by the end of 2014. These new technology-enhanced stores will have large screens at the front so customer can play games by waving their hands in front of it. There will be eight technology stations to increase hands-on engagement. Another priority is to improve store productivity and profitability. They expect to close fifty-sixty more stores and transfer some of their sales to remaining stores. By the end of 2014, they will operate fewer stores, but they expect these stores to have higher sales and profits which will improve the sales per square foot by twenty-five percent. “Build-A-Bear” also plans on increasing shopping frequency. To do this they have reintroduced brand-building TV advertising to drive traffic, further engage existing guests and attract new guests. They will continue to rebalance their marketing efforts to stress their brand experience as they move forward.
Section Four In 2013 the merchandise will be improved to include new options such as customized sound chips and scent like chocolate chip or cotton candy that can be embedded in the stuffed animals. They are also going to improve advertising to the part of the market that goes to “Build-A-Bear” to buy gifts. They hope to prompt parents and relatives to give the gift of an interactive experience. This is smart considering there is a movement towards engaging kids in more active activities. Also, spending time making a stuffed animal with a child means more than traditional gifts. “Build-A-Bear” also plans on increasing their global presence. With so many companies going global it only makes sense that such a beloved company as “Build-A-Bear” do the same.

Bibliography
"Teddy Bears, Stuffed Animals & Accessories - Build-A-Bear Workshop US." Build-A- Bear Workshop. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2013.