The industries and sectors related to kids are relatively following a traditional development process, which are mainly driven by marketing or technology innovation. How “design”, as a discipline, is acknowledged in this field still remains at the the first and second levels: treating designers and design skills as a way to make graphics and create products. Therefore, this research, from strategic design perspective, aims at understanding the existing problems and emerging needs in the sectors relevant to kids and toys; at the same time, leading a human-centered approach to create promising scenarios and concepts for new retail models.
This is an applied design research, which has been supported by leading companies in kids and toys field. The design team has created an integrated methodology to collect and interpret both qualitative and quantitative data. The data collection phase consists of 1) promising case study in retail sector with focus on digital transformation; 2) observation in retail shops of diverse brands (from key players to small business) and important fairs in toys sector; 3) questionnaire to collect opinions from consumers. Finally, the research has generated several findings for building new retail experiences for kids.