�ݺ�ߣ

KIDS TRENDS IN INDIA 2009
Research, Analysis & Implications

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
Trends - Deﬁnition & Introduction 1
India - Rising Aspirations 2-3
Kids in India - Rising ﬁgures 4
Kids in India - An overview 5-6

TRENDS 7 -36
SUMMARY 37
ANALYSIS & IMPLICATIONS ON INDUSTRIES 38

Apparel 39 -42
Gaming 43 -48
Television & Cinema 49 -57
Toys 58 -69
Consumer Product Goods 70 -77
Education 78 -83

CONCLUSION 84 -85

ABOUT US 86

OVERVIEW
TRENDS
A general overview of trends and their signiﬁcance
AN INTRODUCTION

Before we start with this report on Kids’ trends in
India, let’s look at what trends are or are supposed
to mean.

Trends are a manifestation of new enablers
unlocking existing human needs.*

Human needs are constantly changing with time.
Some core needs remain constant throughout where
as others evolve in alignment with external variables.
Some trends remain, only modifying themselves
along the way whereas others disappear making way for newer manifestations.
Global events give rise to global trends. Local cultures are impacted by local events
that shape local trends. Any which way one looks at it, trends are ﬂuid in terms of
their dynamics and most certainly affect all kinds of businesses.
“I never predict. I just look out of the window and see what is visible – but not yet
seen.”
- Peter Drucker
This is certainly a great thought on “predicting” the future. Businesses don’t really
have to predict things. Knowing the future is not really possible. It is not exactly given
to us.
The point is, however, to better see and understand today’s landscape in order to be
successful in the future. This report from Insight Instore aims to achieve that.

*Source : www.trendwatching.com 1

INDIA
RISING ASPIRATIONS

A lot has been said about India recently, with her ‘emerging economy’ label, about
how along with China and Brazil, India would be one of the few players on the fast
road to recovery, post the recession gloom. Newspapers are abuzz with reports of
India being the top retail market* again. ‘Red hot’ is the term used by the Times of
India to project the attractiveness of this retail market.

Yes, with low inﬂation and reductions in rent, global retailers are probably looking
at India again to tap the golden opportunity. Indian brands and retailers, on the
other hand, are also holding back a bit on expansion plans and focusing on
restructuring their operations towards developing new strategies which will work for
them in the new post slowdown scenario..

2

On exploring the landscape further, it is interesting to see that while there are good
forecasts and possibly even a few dreamy-eyed brands and retailers emerging
again, there is much more that is happening behind the scenes. The recent pressure
on cost-cutting has resulted in companies looking to beneﬁt from fresh schools of
thought like design thinking instead of the conventional and expensive, highly
research-driven approach to devising strategies. From this stems an imperative to
have a different understanding of the lifestyle and habits of the Indian consumer.
While this approach is gaining prevalence in the various sectors pertaining to
adults, it is still in its nascent stages where kids in India are concerned. Sure, one
has seen hundreds of initiatives by brands and retailers to capitalize on kids. And
some of them have been pretty innovative too! The entertainment sector for one,
has invested in trend research on kids and the results are showing too. Cartoon
network and Disney after their entry, have captured the kid audiences much more
in the past couple of years than ever before. Customising their strategies to appeal
to the numerous diversity elements in a land like India was only one of the factors
that saw them through.

The main point being that kids in India today are very, very different from the kids
of yesteryears in their ways of thinking, processing, analysing and responding to
stimuli. And there are a few simple reasons why they simply cannot be ignored.
Read on…

3

KIDS IN INDIA
RISING FIGURES

As of 2007, India’s population stood at 1.16 billion.
446 million of these were under 18

India has the world’s largest child population.
The annual rate of growth of population is 1.8%

With this child population of 446 million and another 8 million being added every
year,

India is the youngest country in the world.
That’s more than the entire population of the US and UK combined !!!

Reason enough to start giving the kids their due!

Source : UNICEF Demographics 4

KIDS IN INDIA
AN OVERVIEW

Children are the main focus of Indian families, and their aspirations in terms of
education and career choices are quite high today. The average family size in India
has been on a decline, coming in now at almost 4.3 as compared to earlier years
when it was more than 5. With the reduction in their average size and the increase
in their incomes, Indian families have more money to spend. And children being the
main focus, parents try their best to fulﬁll their aspirations. Net result, they get more
attention and participate a lot in the decision-making process.

While there are marked differences in lifestyles when one compares the urban
children with their rural counterparts, we see the ray of a trend, in terms of
convergence of some values like ambition, drive to learn and sensitivity to causes.
Of course, given the backgrounds they grow up in and their speciﬁc cultures, the
mental makeup of rural kids is in sharp contrast to the urban kids. The awareness,
however, has set in even amongst both urban and rural kids, about each other and
there has been curiosity aroused in each group about the other. A curiosity that has
led to initiatives, prompting them to understand each other better and bridge the
urban rural divide. Having said that, it will be a while before there is a
consolidation of other values between urban and rural, given the diversity of the
country. For some more time to come, a child in Mumbai will continue to dream of
a Nintendo and his counterpart in Madurai, of topping the civil service exams.

5

Speaking of urban kids, they are and will continue to be highly influenced by the
West, but we see a reducing degree of influence here in certain areas. The degrees
of influence also vary depending on age, the child’s personality, parental controls
and of course peer pressure. So while we have greater or lesser influenced children
at various age groups, an interesting macro trend is the development of a new
breed of children, which is sensible enough to take the best of the West, and merge
it effortlessly with what they think is the best of Indian values. This is a feature
fuelled by a good amount of exposure that kids receive today. New television
shows based on Indian mythology with redefined storylines, a surge in Bollywood
movies like ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’ which speak of Gandhian ideals in everyday
life, education systems in schools like those run by the Krishnamurthy Foundation of
India are a few drivers of this breed.

Then again, diversity loves India and we see tiny brats at the other end of the
spectrum! Mini materialists amongst toddlers, tweens and teens who need to look
and feel good, representing KGOY or Kids Getting Older Younger, a phrase that
has been doing the marketing rounds for a few years now globally. From food to
clothes to accessories to games to services like salons and gyms, this segment leads
the consumer pack.

While enough can be said about diversity factors, there are also certain practices
or habits that run through the very different segments all over India and group them
under a common umbrella. Cricket, for example, knows no race or creed. Neither
does affinity for technology. Nor, to an extent, does environmental consciousness!
Speaking of the environment, the kids are definitely a lot more aware and sensitive
to practices that upset the delicate balance of nature. Initiatives by children and
those involving children have seen a surge in the past 5 years. After all, the worlds
largest group of children needs to make sure that planet earth stays intact for them
to stay on and enjoy her resources in the coming years!

Thus trends in this group are aplenty, some niche and some mass, but all are
important. The numbers and the rapidly changing trends impact everything from
government policies to education to retail to entertainment to the environment.

6

TREND

RURAL RISE
Until recently, all the talk about rural upliftment including in education bordered on
the aspirational. Not anymore! Listen carefully and one can hear a faint echo
getting stronger. Rural children are striving to meet their learning needs and joining
hands to rise and further help uplift their kind.

With more initiatives being taken by NGOs recently, rural children have been more
than happy to avail of the benefits. A rural kid today is getting ready to move in a
different direction. He aims to achieve his dreams, by keeping his eyes and ears
open for opportunities, by being strongly driven, motivated and persistent in his
efforts. He is aware of his urban counterpart and how different his lifestyle is. He
seeks to learn more about the urban scenario. In doing so, he is also indirectly
bridging the chasm, the great urban rural divide. These kids though not as tech
savvy as the city kids, are more curious today and jump headlong into any activity
that involves an interaction with technology.

In all competitions and tests attended by urban and rural kids, the rural contenders
have done almost as well as or sometimes even better than their urban siblings. In
the IT industry for example, one sees a huge influx of rural whiz kids. Interestingly,
their goals do not stop at achieving their individual dreams. Its goes a great step
further. Nothing is complete without sharing the benefits with their own kind and
uplifting them in whatever way possible. Be it a young girl aiming to be a politician
or a teenager working hard to be a software engineer, their roots are strong and
they dream of giving back to their less privileged brethren. After all, who better
than themselves to understand what works best in their scenarios!

11

RURAL RISE
EXAMPLE 1
BRIDGING THE GAP

Over 400 school children from the city and
different rural areas across the country
gathered in New Delhi in April 2008 for a
unique three-day fun-ﬁlled interaction.
INSIGHT
‘Pratibimb’ is an initiative of Delhi-based Active participation in the diversity
NGO Goonj, to bridge the urban-rural story
divide and share resources and
Fostering mutual care &
experiences.
understanding
The urban schools kids made presentations Resource mobilisation
on the problems in the rural set-up and
New learning scenarios towards
their solutions. The rural children judged
all round development
the competition as the best judges of the
practicality of the solutions offered. The Imparting social awareness as an
presentations were through traditional important part of education
mediums like street plays and poster
presentations. As many as 300 school Building initiative in kids
children from rural areas of Assam, Bihar,
Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal
participated in the event, an annual affair.
Their urban counterparts came from 20
schools in Delhi.

12

TRENDS

SUMMARY
The world’s largest kid population has multiple facets as seen. As diverse as the
topic is, we have tried to touch upon the most important aspects of understanding
children in India collectively. We have seen 6 macro trends prevalent among
children in India today. The trend examples have given insights into various aspects
of kids personalities, and also render a clear idea of the kind of lifestyles they lead.
These ﬁner insights have a direct impact on many industries as one can already
gauge from the examples stated.

We have analysed this in further detail to paint an overall picture of the
implications of these trends on the following industries :

Apparel

Entertainment - Television, Cinema & Gaming

Toys

CPG (Consumer Product Goods)

& Education

Speaking of the industry, kids’ retailing is expected to touch an annual growth of
30-35 per cent. Spanning toys, stationery, sportswear, outerwear, tailored clothing,
eyewear, watches, fragrance, footwear, theme parks, TV channels etc., the segment
is growing rapidly. Margins are in the range of 20–25 per cent (for dealers and
distributors), while companies enjoy an average gross margin of about 10 per
cent.(Source : IBEF)

In analyzing the various industries, our approach has been to be as non-linear as
possible. We believe that a linear approach on the impact of the trends on a
particular industry will be incomplete, and an analysis of the industry itself, will
reveal many other factors which need to be addressed towards progressive growth.
These factors have been reviewed in the light of the trends. We have thus looked
at the trends and the industry from various angles and put together a few pointers
which, we think, will stimulate ideas and actions in the right direction.

37

TRENDS

ANALYSIS

TREND 1

TREND 2

TREND 3

TREND 4

TREND 5

TREND 6

CONCLUSION
Kids have emerged as savvy, sensitive and an extremely important consumer
segment today. However, it is critical to understand how to reach out to them.
Correct messaging is one thing. But an average child sees up to 220 ads per day
and unlike adults do not have the experience or life skills to differentiate
between advertisements and content. The idea is to touch kids lives through the
day and not just on television. The convergence of TV, internet, telephones and
other offline channels define a new lifestyle. Rich media interactivity and real-
time messaging is almost the norm. This reality is the new lifestyle that will define
a huge portion of urban India. This means that consistent messaging is the buzz
word. 360 degree-oriented marketing solutions need to be the approach. By
integrating messages across multiple touch points one can create the opportunity
to talk with, and not at, today’s kids. This leads to greater engagement and
greater loyalty.

Kids today feature in numerous ads, spanning such diverse product categories,
and sometimes even targeted at the adult purchaser! That is the extent of
participatory power being harnessed by brands. They try to capture the attention
of two very distinct audiences through one message. They must appeal to the
adult purchaser, as well as to the kid who could end up influencing that
purchase. Thus we have commercials for Asian Paints, HDFC Standard Life, Surf
Excel, Maruti Esteem, SBI Infrastructure Fund, Airtel, Radio Mirchi and others
that take this approach.

Many marketers have tried to segment kids and the most common one is based
on age groups. Fisher Price sells toys with the segmentation clearly announced in
their branding as well. Our examples tell us that there are broadly 3 big groups
in the context of child consumers.
-The new urban
-The upcoming urban and
-The rural

Segmentation needs to be done in each group taking into account parameters of
age, sociocultural aspects, economic status, psychographic elements, media and
technology influences and the finer aspects of relevance in the current scenario.

This is essential for any product or brand to make strategies with the right fit, to
appeal to and make its mark amongst it’s target kids group.

All these trends and their analyses are pointers which give a broad outline of
what the future for kids looks like, given their situations today.

84

Indian urban kids are no longer very different from their global counterparts in
terms of their needs and lifestyle. Urban India has started to glow and there are
predictions that it will shine bright. Rural India although is waiting to see the glow.

But as we have seen, initiatives have begun in progressive directions, and given
the undying attitude and the ambition of rural kids today, there is deﬁnitely a
more promising tomorrow awaiting these tots.

85

ABOUT US

Insight Instore is a trend research and retail shopper marketing consultancy. We
study trends and shoppers. We see the shop as our laboratory. Our aim is to create
impact instore through insight and innovation.

Our areas of work include shopper research and instore consulting, design
consulting, trend research and forecasting.

Our solutions are driven by a combination of various skills and disciplines, coming
together on a vibrant and receptive platform. Research forms the basis of our
consulting work. Consulting for us does not stop at developing a strategy, but
extends to helping our clients to execute and evaluate the strategy. We also use this
entire experience for trend research and forecasting.

Insight Instore is headquartered in Bangalore, India.

Contact us:

Insight Instore
455, 1st Cross
9th Main, HAL 3rd Stage
Bangalore - 560 075, India

email: info@insightinstore.com
www.insightinstore.com

Tel : +91 97390 94983 / +91 97399 74069

86

�ݺ�ߣ

Kids Trends in India 2009 - A Preview

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to Kids Trends in India 2009 - A Preview (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

Kids Trends in India 2009 - A Preview