TIME EUROPE
December 11, 2000, Vol. 156 No. 24
Tumult in Toyland
Cyberplaythings, the must-have gifts this holiday season, are jolting Europe's toymakers — and troubling some parents
By JENNIE JAMES
Coneyl Jay for TIME |
Teksta the robotic dog just will not shut up. he has flapped his mechanical ears and wagged his high-tech tail to get attention, but there is none forthcoming. He has taken several determined paces on his sturdy silver legs in search of a playmate, but no one has stimulated the sensors on the back of his neck, or pressed his special bone to his nose button, in response. So Teksta has started to whine — in a perfect, sniveling imitation of the eight-week-old puppy his microchip is programmed to mimic.
If the predictions of analysts and retailers are anything to go by, toys like Teksta — or Tekno, as he is known on the Continent — are going to bound off the shelves this Christmas, as manufacturers cash in on the interactive, microchips-with-everything trend now settling into the European toy market. Robotic pups have certainly staked their claim, as the yap of Poo-Chi, which retails at $35, and the woof of Cyber-Dog, $35, join the persistent bark of Teksta, $57. Beyond computerized canines, there are robotic babies that cry for their human Mamas, train sets that respond to commands from their owners and soft toys that alter their personalities at the touch of a velvet plush button. "Children want more from a toy than something that just sits there," says Carrick James, founder of Carrick James Market Research, which specializes in trends for kids. Echoes Shoshana Gillis, a spokeswoman for the London department store Harrods: "We've definitely entered the interactive world." Just in time for the holidays.
Although overall toy sales in Europe have remained static for years, the high-tech section of the industry is anything but. Since hits like Tamagotchi and Furby confirmed the arrival of Toyland's digital age in 1997, electronic toys have captured 3% of the $2.3 billion British market, for example, and are expected to grab 5% of the $17 billion overall European market by the end of 2001. But while the cyberplaythings' share may still seem small, interactive technology has sent a seismic jolt through an industry that once specialized in wooden horses on wheels, beautiful dolls and carefully assembled armies of soldiers. In Scandinavia, says the Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies, sales of such old-fashioned toys have decreased 15-25% over the last five years. In Italy, according to a recent study by Walt Disney Italy, 53% of children aged 5-13 have an electronic games console — up from 35% last year.
In the face of this invasion, many of Europe's toy companies have been forced to head into high-tech territory, jettisoning established business strategies, developing new divisions and adding sound, light and other bells and whistles to existing lines in an attempt to remain relevant. "Traditional toys have become a completely different thing," says Bruno Bukanowski, editor of La Revue du Jouet, a French toy industry publication. "In a few years," says Mads Nipper, a senior vice president at Danish toy giant Lego, "it may be that what we call traditional toys are products with artificial intelligence." The challenge for toy firms: to grapple with such changes successfully — in a way that pleases both kids and their parents.
At the outset, companies must address the fact that kids develop more sophisticated tastes at an earlier and earlier age. Market researchers refer to this as K.G.O.Y. — Kids Getting Older Younger. It has forced toymakers to compete for their core customers with music producers, sporting goods manufacturers, branded clothes suppliers and even mobile phone companies. "Kids used to be considered children until they reached the age of 15," says Marta Ubeda of the Spanish Toy Manufacturers' Association. "Now, they stop being children for the toy industry when they are about 10." This year, for example, Liesje Regelbrugge, 11, of Neerpelt, Belgium, has sports shoes on her Christmas list, not toys. But they must be Adidas or Nike — anything else, she sighs, "would not look cool."
To have a breakthrough hit, say experts, a toy must offer at least one of three qualities — collectibility (witness the ongoing mania to collect cards based on the 150 Pokémon characters); a great "story," which explains the huge retail displays of licensed toys linked to cartoons, like Disney characters, and feature films like Star Wars; or a compelling technology, like the one that led to Cybiko, a highly successful toy for the Internet age developed by Russian entrepreneur David Yang. "When you're a child, you're always in a hurry," says Joël-Yves Le Bigot, founder of the Institute of the Child, a French market research company that focuses on youngsters. "High-tech toys offer a kind of initiation into things kids see as part of the future." MORE>>
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