"A toy is used on average six months by a child under six years old" explains Adrien Valentin, co-founder of the start-up Petite Marelle.
The Bordeaux company thus offers parents boxes of toys for rent, which we receive directly at home.
This rental principle makes it possible to fight against waste, and to regularly renew the toys of toddlers who need something new to accompany their awakening.
Fight against waste, save money, and… declutter rooms.
The list of perks of renting, rather than buying toys for children, especially the little ones, is as long as the arm.
Baptiste Hasbrouck and Adrien Valentin launched, at the end of 2019, the start-up Petite Marelle, which offers the rental of boxes of 5, 10 or 15 toys for children from 0 to 8 years old.
“A toy is used on average six months by a child under six years old, and this sometimes even drops to three months for toddlers,” explains Adrien Valentin.
All this generates around 40 million toys thrown away each year in France, or 100,000 tonnes of waste.
"Not to mention that by regularly renewing the games of a toddler, who constantly needs something new," we support his awakening curve as closely as possible.
"
At the first confinement, "we suddenly had a strong demand from individuals"
The concept of the two Bordelais initially aimed primarily at the early childhood professionals sector.
But the Covid-19 crisis showed them that the general public was ultimately more ready for this mode of consumption than they believed.
“At the first confinement, the nurseries almost all stopped their activity, and the parents found themselves having to occupy their children, says Adrien Valentin.
We suddenly had a strong demand from individuals, which totally reversed our model, since it was parents who boosted our activity.
We realized that there was a real enthusiasm on the part of individuals for our concept, and we continued to ride this wave, which still continues.
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More than 1,000 toy references
Cécile Pelletier, a Parisian mother of a little Melvil, discovered Petite Marelle at the end of 2020. At a time when the toy stores were closed.
“I was told about it, I went to see their site on the Internet, and I found that their principle corresponded perfectly to my child who was barely a year old, and to whom we offered toys with which he played little, or which he quickly grew bored, she says.
Besides, I don't have large spaces to store toys, not to mention that it is expensive.
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Our consumption file
Petite Marelle also relies heavily on very flexible operation.
“We wanted to do something that was as simple and flexible as possible for parents,” insists Adrien Valentin.
Our boxes are 100% flexible, since it is the parents who choose the toys they want to put in, via our online catalog which has 1,000 references.
They pick up the box at home, and every month they have the possibility to stop the subscription, or to renew all or part of it for one more month.
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Cécile Pelletier confirms.
"It's super easy: I choose the toys on the site - plus there is plenty of advice on age groups - and if I renew my subscription one month longer, I don't have to keep the toys. same toys, I can keep one or two and swap the others.
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More than 3,000 clients to date
The box of five toys, which represents 75% of subscriptions, is offered at 19.50 euros per month, "price which includes the box, shipping and returns, the breakage and wear guarantee" explains Adrien Valentin.
The ten-toy box costs 28 euros, while the 15-toy box is primarily intended for professionals.
“Our catalog is regularly supplemented, and it mainly concerns toys made of wood, recyclable cardboard or natural rubber, and without batteries.
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Petite Marelle has more than 3,000 customers to date. “It goes from grandparents who take subscriptions for short periods, mainly during school holidays when they look after the children, to parents who subscribe to the year, or part of the year. "Cécile Pelletier has already renewed her subscription three times for her part," which does not prevent me from continuing to buy toys, but on very rare occasions, for crushes. "
"Many of our customers live mainly on our rentals, and only buy occasionally, during events such as Christmas or a birthday" analyzes Adrien Valentin.
Who specifies that Petite Hopscotch also offers purchase options if the child has a crush on a toy, "at a price of 40% to 50% cheaper than in store", as well as gift cards offering three-month subscriptions at 58.50 euros.
“It works very well at Christmas,” slips the entrepreneur.
Partnership with the Cultura brand
Based at the start-up incubator of the Kedge business school in Talence, Petite Marelle subcontracts all the logistics part to an ESAT (Establishment or work assistance service, which promotes the integration of adults with disabilities) in Artigues-Près-Bordeaux.
"We already have more than 50,000 toys that have been rented, and it is this establishment which manages the storage, the preparation of the orders, the management of the returns, the cleaning / disinfection…"
While the start-up aims to double in volume within a year, it has just entered into a partnership with the Cultura brand, "which realized that its customers were also open to this new way of consuming" , explains Adrien Valentin.
The two companies are also considering a project around collecting toys.
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