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BVM:
Speaking of changes, what changes
have you seen in the toy industry of late?
Smith:
Twenty years ago, in our kind of stores,
we didn’t sell licensed products –you’d have
to go to Toys “R” Us because they carried all the
mass market toys. But, the world has changed
for children and many of these licensed prod-
ucts, the Disney products, the Star Wars prod-
ucts, are good products that have good value,
and people don’t have any prejudice against
buying them. They don’t think that if they buy
a troll doll, their child will never go to Harvard.
Consumers now feel that most good toys are
widely available.
Also, the Toy Industry of America (TIA), a big
trade association for the toy industry, watches
the demographics very carefully–how many
children are being born, what age the parents
are, how the parents interact with online media,
what the parents do, what the kids are doing,
what they’re doing in preschool, what they’re
doing in grade school, how they’re learning to
read– all of that impacts what eventually ends
up on a shelf.We’re not in a time when you
The Good Toy Group
could put something on your shelf and say
‘You need to have this set of blocks,’ and
they’d buy them. Now the customer will say,
‘My child doesn’t like to play with blocks;
he’d rather play with something else, so
why should I buy them?’ Now, we’re trying
to fulfill the ‘Why’ rather than saying ‘You
need this.’ The market and the consumer
have changed.
BVM:
Are there any changes planned for
your company that will impact the way you
do business?
Smith:
We’re in the midst of a five-year
strategy rollout that started last year. The
major change is to become a full-fledged
buying group, not just a marketing group.
Also, to look for all the different ways that
you, as a consumer, need to be touched -
which is not just receiving a catalogue in
the mail so your kids can pour through it,
but every way that you need to be reached.
BVM:
Can you explain how a buyer’s
group would work?
Smith:
Well, we might go to different
people who bring in product directly from
China and have a container brought into a
distribution facility and sell it only to our
members, or we could have exclusive prod-
uct or product at a different price than what
we’re able to get in the marketplace.
BVM:
So, that would be a rather big
change from your original business model.
Smith:
Yes. But now, of course, it’s more
doable than it was in 1999. There are more