NOVACHILD Cluster

The Nova CHILD Cluster

Based in the region «Pays de la Loire», the cluster Nova CHILD co-ordinates a network of Companies, Research and Training Institutes.

Different participants from across the child care sector share and exchange ideas and points of view inside this network. The network includes members from food, shoes, books, clothing, health, toys, furniture, baby care, decoration, and services sectors.

Nova CHILD brings together participants' knowledge, skills and capabilities in order to create a real expertise centre oriented around the knowledge and the innovation for the child and their family. Nova CHILD offers services to bring solutions for all organizations involved in innovation for the well-being of children :

• OBSERVATORY - Identify and interpret innovative trends in the child sector.
• LIVINGLAB - Allows its members the access to the users (children, parents, grandparents, family...)
• INNOVATION - Support its members in their innovation process

The need to investigate Retailing… 

In the context of its Observatory, Nova CHILD organizes an annual symposium, a professional seminar involving top experts (researchers, marketing specialists, industrialists, retailers, etc…) around current multi-disciplinary issues.

In 2012, the topic of retailing became clear when the team was seeking a current and relevant theme for their next symposium. The reason was that the companies, confronted with significant change in the retail sector, which is under intense pressure from the environment, suffer from limited information to develop their strategic thinking.

The success of the subsequent symposium lead Nova CHILD to work with ESSCA – Research Lab at studying Kids and Retailing and contribute to the research agenda to develop knowledge on this topic for the benefit of companies.

After several topics such as “Kids & consumption(s)” in 2013, after “Propect’Kid” in 2014, a prospective study that ask how our children and their families will live in 2020/2025, after a scientific symposium about the allergic child in 2015.

How to insuffle a new imaginary to the native shop generation ? That was the main question of the last symposium Nova CHILD in 2016 that also marked the return of the retailing problematics (customer services, digital tools, innovation, gamification, retailtainment, etc.)

In this context, Nova CHILD has conducted a survey about the customer services in the french outlets and more specifically concerning the child and his family. Thus, according to the study "Nova CHILD - Child and Distribution: State of Play", with 12% spontaneous citation, Toys "R" Us was designated as the favorite outlet of children, according to the parents' point of view.

Follow the link for additional details about Nova CHILD's contribution to project development at: http://www.novachild.eu/