American children’s electronics brand eKids is targeting international travel retail with its range of licensed products including headphones, walkie-talkies, boom boxes and speakers.
eKids, a division of leading US consumer electronics company iHome, has a well-established travel retail presence in the USA through listings with Dufry and Hudson. eKids won awards from Hudson in 2014, 2015 and 2016 for Best New Vendor, Best Sales Increase and Vendor of the Year respectively.
eKids Key Account Manager Gabriella Nogueira said: “eKids products are everywhere in the US domestic market including Walmart, Best Buy, Target, Barnes & Noble, Toys R Us and Kohl’s. We are sold in over 400 Hudson outlets including Las Vegas, New York JFK and Los Angeles LAX airports, as well as in Dufry in Brazil and will soon be opening at Colombia and Mexico airports.”
The company, which has a strong domestic presence in Europe through Smyths Toys, Argos, Otto and Expert, said it believes now is a perfect time for building travel retail distribution through all channels.
“eKids has built a phenomenal portfolio of international licenses for its product range including Frozen, Disney Princess, Moana, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Star Wars, SpiderMan, Finding Dory, and many more,” noted Nogueira. “We’re continually updating these and adding new lines to stay ‘on-trend’ and relevant to current films; this year has seen us add Spiderman Homecoming, Cars 3, Guardians of the Galaxy, Beauty and the Beast, Thor and COCO.”
Nogueira said that all eKids licenses are approved for distribution through travel retail markets globally, collectively enabling the brand to offer a wide-ranging assortment of electronic products to meet all regional preferences.
“We see eKids becoming a must-stock brand for any airport retail store offering electronics and/or children’s items”
eKids works with the Latin American Dufram Corporation, which is responsible for branding, plus the commercial and marketing development of the travel retail business. “They ensure that all products are presented, packaged and marketed in the right way for travel retail,” commented Nogueira.
eKids’ top selling items are headphones, which all come with volume limiters. Models include: Fun Youth Headphones, Bluetooth headphones, Youth Bluetooth headphones for younger children and over-the-ear and fashion headphones aimed at teenagers and young adults. The brand also offers a range of earbuds including noise-isolating, under-earbuds and fashion designs.
“Something for all age ranges”: eKids’ portfolio of international licenses includes Star Wars, SpiderMan and Finding Dory
The eKids portfolio also covers toys, speakers and boombox and mobility, all available in different licensed film and character themes. Toys include Walkie-Talkies, MP3 Microphones and interactive toys, such as the Cars Kids interactive wheel. The speaker and boombox category includes a sing-along boombox, voice changer boombox, CD player boombox and sculpted bluetooth speakers. The mobility category includes moulded USB flash drives, lightening cables and power banks.
Nogueira continued: “We see eKids becoming a must-stock brand for any airport retail store offering electronics and/or children’s items. This is a really under-developed area for travel retail, yet we see fantastic sales from these items wherever they are stocked. By adding eKids we are confident that retailers will see incremental sales, adding to basket size and spend per head.”
eKids also sees potential in the inflight channel, said Nogueira. “For inflight we are offering products that match with the airline’s need for compact items to fit the cart: earbuds, small sculpted Bluetooth speakers, flash drives, and power banks can really help lift an often boring selection for children and teenagers inflight. We also see smaller items being perfect for point-of-sale, great as additional impulse purchases.”
Nogueira concluded: “We don’t see a place in travel retail where our line would not be appropriate. In the US eKids is everywhere – we even supply JC Penney and Macy’s for the holiday season. Our ambition is for eKids to be equally prominent in the travel retail channel.”
Gabriella Nogueira will be attending the TFWA World Exhibition and can be contacted at: gabriella@kids-travelretail.com or tel: +55 11 98227 5137.
