Mini shopping trolley prices: what each band actually buys

What a mini shopping trolley costs, and why the spread is so wide

A mini shopping trolley is the small cart a child pushes alongside a parent, usually a 17 L or 25 L basket on four castors with the handle set at child height. It is also called a children's shopping trolley or a kids trolley, and in most stores it does two jobs at once: it keeps a child occupied and it keeps small hands off the adult trolley.

Guide prices across the children's trolley range start from £11 ex VAT, bulk price, and the dearest listing is a themed steel trolley from £128 ex VAT, bulk price. That is a wide spread for what looks like the same object standing in a rank by the door.

The gap is not basket size. A 17 L trolley sits at both ends of the range. The gap is frame weight, castor diameter, how the handle is fixed to the basket and whether the trolley carries a printed panel or a moulded body. A trolley at the bottom of the range suits a small convenience store with a handful of young shoppers on a Saturday. One at the top is a feature parents walk their children over to.

Mini shopping trolley price bands compared

Guide prices in GBP ex VAT, taken from the product pages. Every figure is a bulk price, and the written quote confirms the price for the quantity you want.

The step that costs the most in proportion is the one from a plastic basket to a welded steel one. The step above that buys a themed trolley, which is a different purchase doing a different job.

Where the extra money goes: frame, castors and finish

Three things account for almost all of the difference between a trolley at £12 and one at £40.

• Frame. A moulded plastic basket on a light frame is lighter to push and cheaper to make. A welded steel basket takes the knocks that come from being pushed into shelf ends and dropped on tiles. Steel is also easier to repair: a bent wire can be straightened, a cracked plastic basket is finished.
• Castors. Small hard castors are fine on smooth vinyl and poor on tile joints or a worn entrance mat. Larger castors with a softer tread roll over joints and run quieter, and they are the single most common reason a cheap trolley gets pulled out of the rank in its first year.
• Finish. Powder coat over a cleaned and treated frame holds up to daily wiping and the odd soaking by the door. A thin coat chips at the welds, and once it chips the trolley starts to look tired even though it still works.

Capacity is the thing buyers look at first and it moves the price least. A 25 L steel trolley is from £20 ex VAT, bulk price, while a 17 L steel trolley in a heavier build is from £40 ex VAT, bulk price. You are paying for how long it lasts, not for how much it holds.

Which band suits your store

Match the band to the floor and the footfall, not to the budget line.

• Convenience store or small independent. The entry and plastic bands, from £11 ex VAT, bulk price. A short rank of six to ten trolleys, replaced when they get tired, costs less than maintaining heavier ones.
• Supermarket or busy grocer. The 25 L steel band from £20 ex VAT, bulk price. These go out and back dozens of times a day and need to survive being nested, shoved and left in the car park.
• Cash and carry or a wide hard floor. The heavier steel band. Longer runs, rougher floor joints and a longer push mean bigger castors earn their place.
• Garden centre, retail park or family destination. One or two themed trolleys as a draw, with a rank of plain steel trolleys behind them. Themed trolleys are slower to nest and take more floor space, so they work as a feature rather than as the whole rank.

If children's trolleys are going in at the same time as a wider refresh, it is worth pricing them with the adult shopping trolleys on the same quote so the colours and the print match across both ranks.

What to check before you buy

Work through this list before you ask for a price, and send the answers with the enquiry so the quote is right first time.

1. Floor surface. Polished tile, vinyl, sealed concrete or an entrance mat. This decides castor size and tread, and it is the first question we ask.
2. Handle height. Fixed handles suit a known age group. An adjustable handle covers a wider spread of children on the same trolley.
3. Nesting. Check whether the model nests and how deep, because a rank of ten non nesting trolleys takes several times the floor space of a nesting rank.
4. Flag or no flag. A flag pole makes a small trolley visible over shelf height. It also catches on low fittings and on car boots, so some stores specify the trolley without one.
5. Colour and print. Powder coat colour, basket colour and a printed panel are all specified at order. Send artwork early rather than after the frames are made.
6. Edges and fixings. Look for rolled or capped edges on the basket rim and fixings that sit flush. These are the points a child's hand meets.
7. Spares. Ask for castors and handle grips to be quoted alongside the trolleys. Castors are the wear part and a handful on the shelf keeps a rank complete.
8. Quantity. Any quantity is welcome, from a pair upwards, and the quote confirms the price for the number you want.

Getting a price that holds

Send the band you have in mind, the floor surface, the number of trolleys, the colour and whether you want print. That is enough for a firm figure on any model in the range.

Everything is made to order at our partner factories and inspected before dispatch, with photos and video sent to you before it leaves. The written quote by email confirms the price, the freight, duty, VAT and the lead time, and it holds for 30 days. Prices on the site are guide prices in GBP ex VAT.

Send a floor plan or a photo of the entrance through the contact page and we will quote the band, the colour and the castors against your floor.