Global Toy News

Toy Retail In The Experience Economy

According to the rhetoric, “brick-and-mortar retail just can’t compete in today’s digital-first economy.” It’s said that e-commerce showrooming habits and hand-held digital devices have disrupted the existing markets and value networks of brick-and-mortar retail. According to the United States Census Bureau, e-commerce continues to see compound annual growth of more than 10 percent, and analysts do not expect this trend to slow. In 2011, U.S.-based retail and restaurant sales (including e-commerce) reached over $4 trillion. Overall, according to the United States Census Bureau, brick-and-mortar sales are flat or declining while oftentimes untaxed or under-taxed online retailers reach new heights. Retailers report “showrooming” activities, the act of browsing at a store location only to then make an online purchase, and question the ability to compete with Amazon’s quick shipping, massive selection, and bottom-line pricing.

Why concentrate on speed, selection, and pricing when e-commerce has it won? If retailers don’t like the new rules set by e-commerce, why play the game?

App-Impaired Toys?

You know what would be awesome? Let’s combined the best qualities of casual digital games with the best qualities of physical toys and games!

Toys and apps: Many toy and game manufacturers have tried to combine these two play ingredients with varying degrees of unimpressive results. There are a few success stories: Activision has seen a tremendous consumer response to Skylanders, and Hasbro’s popular Furby is arguably “app-enhanced.” But as Richard Gottlieb’s article and GAMEZEBO’s study posted last week indicated, most app-enhanced toys rank on a sliding scale from disappointing sales to complete disaster. Do the average consumer and user (usually mom and child) see added value in “app-enhanced” products? Do these products deliver beyond expectations? App-enhanced toys wage an uphill battle in the marketplace due to perhaps impossible or unfair customer and user expectations. The value proposition of an app-enhanced toy is the very best qualities of a casual video game and a physical toy, combined.

From a customer at retail perspective, toymakers face a significant challenge in conveying the quality and added value of app-enhanced products. Zak Orner, User Experience Specialist at Manifest Digital, has spent the last few months knee-deep in app-meets-toy strategy. Zak applies his years of UX training and interest in consumer habits to the emerging toy category. “You get one chance to impress a user before he or she makes a snap judgment,” Zak cautions. “If one part of the [product] doesn't meet their expectations the entire product will be judged.”

Invented in the U.S.A.

The NY Times ran interesting story today titled:  Google Tries Something Retro: Made in the U.S.A. The opening paragraph reads:  Etched into the base of Google’s new wireless home media player that was introduced on Wednesday is its most intriguing feature. On the underside of the Nexus Q is a simple inscription: “Designed and Manufactured in the U.S.A.”

I’ve often wondered why if we have a label that states the product was manufactured in the U.S.A. or wherever, why not add where it was invented. It could be as Google has it labeled or you could have, as an example, “Designed in the U.S.A. and Manufactured in China.”

I also think it is important to have the name(s( of the inventor(s) of the box as a face or a story helps sell product, a topic I have written about many times.

 Inventors themselves aside, isn’t it just as important where the idea was developed? People are employed designing just as they are manufacturing. Aren’t we proud of our innovative spirit? Perhaps the toy and game industry should lead the way and include such verbiage on our packaging. 

 

Pinterest: I Need a 12-Step Program

There, I’ve said it.  I am addicted to Pinterest.  Social media maven Mary Kay Russell led me here a few weeks ago.  Although I didn’t want to add yet another social media addiction to my already full plate of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, I am now spending more time on Pinterest than the rest combined.  In part, because it is new; but also because it is incredibly fun and useful on many levels.  And the more time I spend on it, the more I can see why it could be hugely beneficial to the toy business – especially for retailers – from the big guys to the small brick & mortar stores. 

So what is Pinterest?  And why should toy retailers be interested in it?  Pinterest is an online “social” site that lets users collect images they find online and offline – onto virtual bulletin boards that they can categorize and organize however they wish (i.e. home décor, recipes, party planning, TOYS I MUST BUY).  Find something you want to buy?  Or maybe a DIY project you want to try?  How about a recipe you’d like to save?  Grab the image and “pin” it onto one of your boards.  The social part (this is where it gets addicting) comes into play when the user starts to window shop on Pinterest.  Users can follow each other’s boards, and images can be shared or “repinned”, commented on, or “liked”.  If a user wants to find out more about an item or make a purchase, they can click on the image and it’ll take them to the originating site.

I now have over 25 boards with over 1,000 images – and the list is growing.  As you might have guessed, among my 25 boards are Toy and Game Inventors, Chicago Toy & Game Exhibitors, Kid Inventors and My Favorite Toy Stores.   I no longer need to keep notes about places I want to go, recipes I want to try, decorating ideas, books I want to read, unusual wine corks, videos I like, etc.  It’s all there for me when I want it, in an organized system that I understand and can access from anywhere, anytime.