Dive Brief:
- Baby registry site Babylist is set to open a flagship showroom on Friday in Beverly Hills, California.
- The 18,000-square-foot location is staged to offer guests a large area for testing its wide array of baby products and adding them to their registry. Included in the space is an all-terrain stroller track to allow customers to test out products on various surfaces, according to a company press release.
- Within the showroom, there is a 1,300-square-foot onsite shop that has a curated selection of small giftable and maternity items that will be available for purchase, the company said.
Dive Insight:
After testing out pop-ups in New York and Los Angeles last year, Babylist is ready to commit to brick-and-mortar retail.
Babylist has partnered with 36 brands who have made investments in the showroom as it relates to how they are represented and experienced onsite. Those brands include BabyBjörn, Chicco, Etsy, Frida, Gap, Hanna Andersson, The Honest Company, KiwiCo, Our Place, Savage x Fenty, Thinx, Tula, Wayfair and others, the company said in its announcement.
“We’ve always believed that real-life interactions have a place in the baby category,” Natalie Gordon, founder and CEO of Babylist, said in an email to Retail Dive. “With legacy retailers like BuyBuy Baby shuttering, we’re at an inflection point where consumers are looking for a place to test and try a variety of baby products in person.”
Babylist was among the bidders that wanted to buy BuyBuy Baby from Bed Bath & Beyond after that company filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. Dream On Me Industries, one of BuyBuy Baby’s vendors, last month received court approval to purchase the baby retailer’s trademark and digital assets for $15.5 million.
Gordon said Babylist designed its Beverly Hills showroom to mirror what it shows virtually. “The showroom guides new and expecting families through the home (living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms, and nursery) — where they can see top-recommended products across categories in real-life environments to touch and try them in order to best evaluate what is right for their growing family,” Gordon said. “Babylist Beverly Hills was designed for hosting events, creating content, and allowing consumers to test products in an enjoyable environment.”
Babylist has a diversified business model with multiple revenue streams, including its own e-commerce shop, affiliate and partner commerce, health insurance reimbursements and a media business, which includes its full-service content studio The Push. The studio has full-funnel marketing offerings for brands including Shipt, UrbanSitter, Nike, FTD and more, the company said.
Through its registry platform, Babylist makes money when people purchase a gift for themselves or a baby. Customers may choose to purchase directly from Babylist’s e-commerce shop or from an affiliated retail partner such as Amazon, Target, Etsy or Pottery Barn Kids. Last year, the company’s platform generated $900 million in gross merchandise value, while the brand reported revenue of $290 million, the company said.
While not ruling it out, Gordon said the company does not have current plans to add more showrooms in other cities.
