Kids are tough. Every age group wants different things. They all want to be older. They’re increasingly trendy. They’re sensitive to style and scared of what might be uncool. And in the end, they don’t have final say over what glasses they buy.

What’s an optical shop to do? Space in the dispensary is limited and kids aren’t a huge part of the market. The first step is understanding what kids want, and every age group is different.

Younger Kids

“Little ones are driven by cartoon characters. Once they get a little older, they’re driven by personalities, like Miley Cyrus or something like that. Those become very important characters,” says Maureen Atkinson, senior partner specializing in marketing research and retail management at the J.C. Williams Group in Toronto. The character or personality that will work will depend very much on the age group. “Something that will work one year won’t the next. They’re on to the next thing. It’s not just that the person is a hot personality, it’s also because of age. What’s hot when you’re 10 is old news when you’re 11.”

Kids start to develop a sense of style around the age of six or seven, and it tends to be stronger and earlier in girls.

Boys

With boys, the trick is finding something they’ll love, says Atkinson. If they love it, they’ll wear it until it’s worn out. It might be a Transformers T-shirt or favourite Spiderman underwear.

“They won’t stop wearing it,” she says. “Parents have troubles getting the clothes off the kid to wash them. They fall in love with these things.”

Girls

Girls are a bit different. They’re more likely to start looking at what older kids are wearing. As girls leave the age when cartoon characters can strongly influence their fashion choices, this can be a real problem for parents. They used to worry about the belly shirts their pre-teen daughters wore, but today the trend toward highly sexualized apparel is moving into even younger age groups.

In a recent interview with the Globe & Mail, early childhood education specialist Kimberly Bezaire echoed these concerns. “We’re hearing from parents that it’s hard to find neutral, innocuous clothing. It’s all pretty, pink, sparkly and sexy. There’s a lot of trash talk on the clothing. We saw skinny jeans for babies at the Gap,” she said.

For optical retailers, it’s important to be on top of such fashion trends. It’s equally important to be aware of potential backlash. There are parents who will be outraged by certain brands because of the messages or apparel lines tied to them. Bezaire pointed to toys such as Rock Angelz, which come with a groupie van, and Bratz, which children’s book publisher Scholastic recently banned. These brands might be red hot with kids and tweens, but they might be a big turn-off for parents. And selling glasses to kids is every bit as much about selling glasses to the parents.

What can win, particularly with girls, is eyewear that can be accessorized. Girls love accessories, says Atkinson. Any way they can customize their eyewear will win big points. For example, consider a cute handbag case for the frames. She suggests going to a mall and watching how kids shop. In particular, take a look at a shop called The Children’s Place for accessory and customization ideas.

Tweens and Teens

What tweens really want, typically, is to look like teenagers. They want to look older and they do not want to be associated with anything that little kids will wear.

This makes tweens a really tough market for eyewear retailers. Real estate is limited. Frames for teens can easily be put together with some of the petite adult frames, since teens increasingly look to grown-ups for fashion trends. But tweens cannot simply be lumped in with kids. If you’ve got Blue’s Clues frames beside Converse, you’re in trouble.

“How you merchandise the store is challenging. You don’t want to confuse the parent, who’s the poor person who has to figure this out. But you also don’t want to turn off the child. You want to appeal to this child,” says Atkinson.

Real estate is a real challenge, particularly in small dispensaries. “The preferred way is to have separate real estate for these kids. The reality is there isn’t a big enough market. You definitely don’t want teens or tweens with things for babies around.”

A specialty store?

While children’s eyewear is a small market, there might be enough demand to create a specialty niche store in some markets. If there isn’t an optical store catering to kids in your area, then there may be an opportunity waiting to be filled.

Just as some family doctors and dentists cater to families with fun waiting areas that have lots of things to do and see for kids, so can an optical shop emphasize the kids’ market. It doesn’t have to mean dropping adult frames altogether. It could mean more real estate for kids’ frames and displays, more staff training on serving kids and parents, décor designed for different age groups in different parts of the store, and so forth. And you can also have decent frames for adults in part of the store, to serve the parents at the same time.

There’s no easy way to merchandise for kids. They change quickly, trends change even faster. Keep on top of what’s hot, talk to parents a lot, speak directly to both parent and kid when they’re shopping for glasses, and remember to never, ever treat a kid too much like a kid. •

Want more? Here are five quick tips for helping kids pick glasses.