RI kids, a jumbo market
By Rikza Abdullah
Indonesian children are a huge market in the country but producers and advertisers have yet to optimize efforts to develop this potential.
JAKARTA (JP): A primary market, Indonesian children have a total annual income of about Rp 5 trillion, said a business consultant.
Some 20 percent of the figure is saved, 20 percent spent on transportation and the remaining 60 percent for purchasing food, beverages, toys, etc.
Children get their income mostly from their parents and some from their relatives, allowances and work.
"Indonesian children are an influence market, which creates total demands of more than Rp 30 trillion (US$2.63 billion) a year," Handi Irawan, managing director of Frontier Marketing and Research Consultant, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
According to a one-month survey conducted in April by Frontier in five cities, children in Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Semarang and Medan receive an average of Rp 1,825 each in pocket money from their parents everyday.
The information was gathered from interviews with 2,500 children aged between seven and 13 years, and 1,500 mothers who had children between four and 12 years of age.
"As an influence market, children mostly influence their parents in the buying of milk, candies, biscuits, beverages and comic books," Handi said. "Some parents even take their children's suggestions into account when buying automotive vehicles, television sets and medicine."
He estimated that the goods bought by parents under the influence of their children may be between Rp 30 trillion and Rp 45 trillion in value every year.
Agoes Soehianie, a data analyst at Frontier, explained that the results of the survey indicated that 94.7 percent of the children influenced their parents in the buying of candies, 90.4 percent in the buying of comic books, 87.6 percent in the purchase of biscuits, 83.3 percent in the picking of recreational places to visit and 23.6 percent in the purchase of television sets.
Role
More than 20 percent of the children had a role in the choice of medicine and 12.4 percent in the selecting of medical doctors to consult.
"The data show that children have bigger roles in the selection of some goods and service, while parents have stronger say in the selection of others," Handi commented.
"If producers or service providers set good targets in their promotional work, they will surely be able to increase their sales."
In promoting candies, biscuits, comic books and recreational places, for example, companies should direct their messages to children, on the hope that they would influence their parents.
But promotional messages on medical services should be targeted at parents, he said.
Advertisements on milk could be targeted at both children and parents, he added.
He said television was the best medium for promotion. "But companies with lower budgets can use the print media for advertisements."
Frontier's survey showed that 55.8 percent of the children watched television in the late afternoon, 26.7 percent in the evening, 15 percent at about noon and only 2.5 percent in the morning.
Sherina, according to the children, is the most popular television commercial personality, followed by Joshua, Tasya, Tamara Bleszinsky and Ari Wibowo.
The magazines liked most by the children were Bobo, Power Game, Aku Anak Saleh and Kawanku, while the most popular comic books were Sinchan, Doraemon, Dragon Ball and Detektif Conan.
Media
Djokolelono, creative director of advertising agency McCann- Erickson Indonesia, said at a seminar on targeting advertisements at children in Jakarta on May 17 that leaflets, brochures and announcements on school notice boards were effective media for promotions of products for intellectual development as they are formal.
For fascinating products, displays that allow children to see and touch would be most effective, while for the promotion of products that need image development, television would be the best medium, he said.
He said children liked commercials that have humor, adventure, feature famous children or cartoon figures, interesting scenes and easy-to-imitate music.
However, he warned that advertisers should not promote products that might nurture hedonism. "Products to be promoted to children must be beneficial to their health," he said.
Handi said children were an attractive market segment because their demands were dynamic and increasing steadily from year to year. "Because children's interests are not stable and can be influenced by education, companies that attract their interests will enjoy a significant growth in sales," he said.
PT Mitra Adiperkasa, a retailer of sporting equipment and fashion products, among others, has, since two years ago, expanded its business to products for children.
"People of up to 20 years of age are a potential market because they compose a large sector of the population in a country," said Ria Novyanti, general manager of Mitra Adiperkasa.
The company, she said, now operated 20 Kids Station stores and more than 20 outlets under the name of Oshkosh B'Gosh in several towns of the country, including Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Yogyakarta, Denpasar in Bali, Medan, Makassar in South Sulawesi and Manado in North Sulawesi.
Kids Station stores sell toys, story and comic books, fashion products and stationery of various trade marks, while Oshkosh B'Gosh outlets sell fashion products for children under the trade mark of Oshkosh B'Gosh.
"We attract the interests of children by offering a large variety of products and providing entertainment facilities at our stores," Ria said, adding that her company would open 10 more Kids Station stores later this year.
Hanna Subintoro, assistant general manager of Toys "R" Us Indonesia, told the Post that her company last year enjoyed a 30 percent growth in its sales of imported and domestically produced toys and goods for children because it continually developed its sales strategy.
She said the company, which operates three outlets in Jakarta, continually updated its goods to catch up with the development of children's interests.
"As we are expecting a 35 percent growth in sales this year, we are now looking for a location in East or North Jakarta for the opening of a new outlet," she said.
Bambang Arief Bembie, a businessman in Bandung, even created a new market for children by producing mini motorcycles using land mower engines.
Assisted by about 60 workers at his home, he assembles up to 90 mini motorcycles per month, some sold domestically and some exported.
The broadcasting of Teletubbies by Indosiar TV station, has developed a new market for Teletubbies dolls, some of which are imported and some domestically made. Video compact discs (VCD) and books carrying Teletubbies stories are also on sale at market places.
Handi said companies could also retain the loyalty of children as their future customers or their future market if they could develop their awareness and preference of the products.