Rise in ecommerce puts tiny tots ahead

A swelling subscriber base

'At the conclusion of its first month of trading, Mysmartkid had gotten over 3,000 members subscribers, and the call centre was struggling to keep up with the influx,' says Adrian Kaplan, Head of Marketing at Mysmartkid. 'The market has been extremely receptive to the programme and, with the inclusion of a stand-alone Afrikaans version of the business called Myslimkind, we've also seen strong adoption from this language group,' he adds.

Mysmartkid helps children between birth and the age of six, and focuses on early childhood development (ECD) under the important categories of Wellbeing, Identity, Concepts, Creativity, Communication and My World. A panel of ECD experts, from child psychologists to speech therapists and occupational therapists, has been instrumental in putting the programme together, which provides a continued source of trust and assurance to parents who have invested in this R295 payment every two months for their not-yet-school-going kids.

Stimulating for children

For parents in isolated areas without toyshops, having ECD professionals close at hand, or a sophisticated playschool offering stimulating child-care facilities, the programme has been described as a 'godsend' and an end to the worries of country-living children being behind their peers when they start at primary school.

And even youngsters from affluent urban families, who may be spoiled for choice regarding educational activities in their neighbourhoods and attentive childcare in the home, may need a little help in reaching one milestone or another.

'If there's one thing we can say with certainty about the online consumer, they're undoubtedly looking for quick, convenient solutions that make their lives, and those of their families, simpler, easier and more productive,' Kaplan concludes.

For more information on the Mysmartkid / Myslimkind programme, go to www.mysmartkid.com / www.myslimkind.com or call 0861 555 224.