THE SMIGGLE GIGGLES

So, just why do kids love Smiggle?  I asked my little girl as she pulled me into the brightly-lit shop.  Must be the vibrant colours of purple, blue, pink, green and quirky prints, I thought.  Her reply was none of the above.

“It smells so nice!”

That was the immediate response from her.  The stationeries are mostly scented, adding another sensory appeal.  Although my suspicion is that the instant draw would be the bold colours which attracted her into the shop, followed by the ‘eye-candy’ varieties.  The mix of vanilla and lavender scents work nothing for me but to her was alluring.

“Buttons everywhere…”

This thing about buttons…I learnt to understand why kids are so good with gadgets.  From remote controls, to iPads to phones, anything that require punching, clicking, pressing and moving are quickly assimilated by children more than adults.  Smiggle has added such mechanisms into its stationery range.  Pencil cases are fitted with buttons that a push will open up ‘secret’ compartment, pop out a scissors or ruler.  Some bags have numeric passwords to punch in, sending thrills to kids.  In my kiddo’s simple description, it’s simply the ‘buttons’. 

“The glow”

A visible treat or trick that works for the kids is the ‘glow’.  The little girl is simply fascinated by it.  She can be clicking on and off just to watch that glow.  The watches, key rings, pencils, lanyards can glow and that’s even more interesting looking at them in the dark. 

It is no wonder that Smiggle should ‘giggle’ as it has leveraged fully on the sensory appeals from smell, touch to sight for the target group of 5-14.  The ironic sights would be bored parents like me standing around looking at our mobile while the kids are romping around excitedly in the shop. 

Smiggle is a coined word for ‘smiles’ and ‘giggles’ which aptly and cleverly defined the brand philosophy.  The Australian chain started in Melbourne by Stephen Meurs and Peter Pausewang in 2003 to shake up the nondescript stationery segment with fun and fashionable design was a huge success. 

Listed Just Group that owns brands like Portmans, Dotti, Jay Jays paid $29M* for it in 2007 to extend its coverage beyond fashion segment.  Smiggle had 18 stores in Australia and another 80 through distribution agreement with Australia Post* then.  Today it has over 200 stores in 6 countries with some of the most profitable stores in Singapore**.

“So what would you do if you are the CEO of Smiggle?” I posed it to the little one.  “I will give out free candies to the kids.”  How’s that for a future CEO?

*Just Acquires Smiggle – Investor Update, July 2007

**Wikipedia - Smiggle