Colruyt investigates the safety of toys themselves

Since the beginning of this year Colruyt and Dreamland control all the toys they import from non-European countries. The XRF scanner searches for heavy metals like lead, quicksilver and others of which the level in toys is legally limited. Only those parts for which the scanner gives a warning are send to an extern lab for further analysis. This scanner was developed to detect heavy metals in electrical machines but it has proven its purpose for testing toys. Thanks to the pre-selection, the extern lab can test more purposeful and Colruyt and Dreamland can complete the test procedure quicker. In 2008 they will have scanned 1200 items.

Eva Joye

Source: http://www.nieuwsblad.be/Article/Detail.aspx?ArticleID=DMF17092008_137

This year: DVD-players from St-Nicolas.

Toys become more and more realistic. The possibilities of the multimedia have become so big that everything that is made for adults can be copied for kids. Toy retailers adapt to that. According to Johan Geeroms, the chief of the toy retailer Dreamland, imitation is very important: toys become more and more realistic because children like to imitate there parents. In former times there used to be a simple kitchen from Smoby but nowadays a kitchen is more real thanks to the technology. Some people think that all that technology reduces the imagination of children; others say that you can’t underestimate the possibility of their imagination.

Eva Joye

Source: http://www.nieuwsblad.be/Article/Detail.aspx?ArticleID=K81I6NTV

New target group: early youngsters

Girls of eleven years old aren’t children anymore. Playing with dolls and other toys doesn’t fit there image. These new type of youngsters are a new target group for toyshops.

There used to be two target groups: toys for four to seven year old kids and toys for seven to twelve year old kids. But girls of nine to twelve years don’t like the toys that are made for their age anymore. It’s not ‘cool’ enough or just too childish. ‘They have become a unique area of distribution’, says Bart Coeman, manager of the toy store chain Fun. ‘Especially ‘gifts’ are now important, the gadgets to say it disrespectfully.’

Just think about the me to you- bears, little grey teddy bears with a message like ‘someone special’ or the similar NICI-bears. The greeting cards and chamber decoration are also very popular. And because a lot of girls of eleven already have a mobile phone, cell phone-holders and other accessories keep scoring very well.

But what with the boys at the age of nine to twelve? That’s also a different market but it turns out that it’s not so extreme as with the girls. They still want to play with a robot but multimedia is now omnipresent.

Eva Joye

Source: http://www.nieuwsblad.be/Article/Detail.aspx?ArticleID=K81I6NTN

toys have to become safer

The 20- year old safety prescriptions are no longer sufficient to assure that new toys entering the market are completely safe. An adjustment is therefore necessary. The most vulnerable consumers are children, and so they must be protected as good as possible

Representatives of the European Union, USA and China want safer toys for children. They are willing to work together to increase the product safety. However, no agreements have been reached on when the standards have to be reached. Their main purpose is to extend information about which products could be dangerous. They support also stronger control on the import, especially on toys from China.

The discussion about safer toys became a topic of the day, when last year a child died after swallowing a little magnet that was incorporated in the product. This accident happened in China. As a result, the American toy giant Mattel took 18 million articles out of retail.

Marion Leenknegt


source:
http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/960/Buitenland/article/detail/491169/2008/11/17/EU-VS-en-China-streven-samen-naar-veiliger-speelgoed.dhtml

Wii

Winter has started again, the ideal season to stay at home by the fireside and…. play wii!

The least you can say about this new games computer is that it is unique: it has reached a huge target group and is loved by both young and older people.

But what about the name? At first sight it’s short and original, but the name is apparently also very suitable to make puns with it. A few examples:
“Let’s connect my Wii with your Wii en play all night with it”, “We are the knights who say Wii!”, “The winner will be the first one to touch Nintendo’s Wii”.


Actually, wii is related with the word “we”, the fact that it’s a game for both young and old.
In France however, they are negotiating about changing we into the short and strong word “oui”
The logo is fresh en certainly recognizable. It’s in line with the I-pod logo, which makes it very attractive to adults, and avoids being ‘kiddy’.
But what’s in a name or logo? Whether you like it or not, the most important things are the game, the price and if you enjoy it!
And as even the price is acceptable (about 250euro), ‘Nintendo Wii” is very successful!
If we may believe certain results the success still hasn’t reached his peak.

Marion Leenknegt

source:

http://www.ninyou.nl/alles/article/3507/wat-is-wii/p1/

Barbie

Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by Mattel, Inc. She has been around since the fifties and is still loved by millions of children today. In recent years, Barbie has faced increasing competion from the Bratz range of dolls. Although they have managed to gain some part of the market, her sales figures remain high and we are sure she will be around for many years to come.

Part of Barbie’s appeal was the fact that she was different than any other doll on the market, girls are able to look at her as a role model. Young girls dream about having the same clothes, blond hair and figure as Barbie. They also show the girls how their body will look like when they get older.

Barbies and their outfits changed with the fashions of the times. In the last few years, Mattel even produced versions of Barbie in a line of ‘good jobs’ such as doctor, teacher, etc. Barbie wants to offer the children a more beautiful, glamorous an fashionable future. Barbie is incredibly popular today and is probably the best known doll in the world.

Marion Leenknegt

source:

http://www.thetoyreview.com/wiki/Barbie

The price up of toys.

In the last few years, the price of toys has increased significantly. For this rise there are three reasons.

First of all, there are the high oil prices that not only increase transportation and energy costs, but of course also the derived products of oil, namely plastic and rubber, became more expensive.

The increased wages of the Chinese people, caused by the latest Olympic Games, also affect the price because 80% of the toys sold in Belgian Shops are made in China.

After having found forbidden substances in finished products, lots of product lines had to be inspected and adapted. This higher level of safety measures by the Chinese government is also a reason for the price up.

Lieselot D'hoop

http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/943/Ombudsman/article/detail/341937/2008/07/09/Ook-speelgoed-wordt-steeds-duurder.dhtml
http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/38/Je-Kinderen/article/detail/455627/2008/10/17/Speelgoed-wordt-duurder.dhtml

Boys and toys

Every year, the ‘toy of the year’ is elected in the Toy Museum in Mechelen. But, it’s not just one toy that’s elected. The toy market is divided into 11 categories, such as ‘stimulating activities for babies’, ‘girls and dolls’ and ‘electronic games’. The election is organized to reward toy producers for being dynamic and creative in the development of their new toys.

The winner in the category ‘boys and vehicles’ is a computer-controlled helicopter, invented by a Belgian engineer. He says he’d always been fascinated by helicopters, and after 40 years of tinkering, he finally commercialized one of his designs.

The election of this helicopter proves once again that the toy market is evolving. While traditional toys are still sold (a lot), the sales of their electronic counterparts are rising...

Source: http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/943/Ombudsman/article/detail/453070/2008/10/15/Belg-ontwierp-Speelgoed-van-het-jaar.dhtml

Laure Konings

Toy expenses

Each year, the parents of a Belgian child spend an average of 204 euro on toy’s for their tots. When including videogames, the average can be raised up to 399 euro. We can thus conclude that, despite the financial crisis, there is still a considerable amount of money reserved for the pleasure and wellbeing of our children.

For the last years, the European toy market has grown 10% annually. According to the consumer organization OIVO(Belgium), the Belgian market grew only 7,8% each year. Nevertheless, this is still a much higher percentage than the growth of average consumption expenses, which was only 2,1% in the past few years.

Source: http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/943/Ombudsman/article/detail/491777/2008/11/18/Belg-koopt-tot-339-euro-speelgoed-per-kind.dhtml

Lieselot D’hoop

Hasbro

“One world, one HASBRO”. What was ones a family business is now one of the world’s biggest toy companies. From a company that started in 1923 of making etuis, to toys and games producer, to an enterprise that fulfills the needs of child and man in every leisure activity you can imagine.

Hasbro is now one of the biggest manufacturers of leisure products in the entire world. “Making the world smile”. That is the number one goal of Hasbro. More than 12000 employees are doing their best to make sure that Hasbro stays the market leader with quality outstanding and fantastic products, from game plays to leisure products for young and old.

Source: http://www.hasbro.be/mcp.php/be_nl/app/company/1/index.html

Lieselot D’hoop

Three generations of building

This year, it’s the 50st anniversary of Lego on the Belgian market. In order to celebrate that fact, there’s an exhibition about the famous building bricks in the Toy Museum in Mechelen.

The point is that everybody used to play with Lego. Who didn’t? Ask your parents (or maybe even your grandparents) and you will find out that we have been playing with Lego for 3 generations! And that is exactly the main idea behind the exhibition.

But the history of Lego hasn’t always been marvellous. The Lego amusement parks haven’t made any benefits for years, and in the early nineties, even the entire company sold at loss.To cope with the competition on the toy market and the digital revolution, the company designed Lego video games, Lego computer-controlled cars and even Lego clothing.It turned out that this strategy wasn’t a great success, so the Lego company returned to their core business: designing inventive Lego-sets for children. From then on, the company renewed it’s success.

Source: http://www.deredactie.be/, http://www.speelgoedmuseum.be/

Laure Konings

Welcome to the world of gaming

In the past, children had simple toys to play with: balls and cars for boys, dolls and make up for girls. But since the 90s there has been a huge change when it comes to the world of toys. Nowadays, children of all ages are converted to the concept of... “the computer”!

To go along with that trend, the Flemish minister of economy has decided to invest 2 billion Euros in the national game industry every year from now on. Companies who are willing to do research that can be interesting for the development of new games, will be able to get a grant up to 300,000 Euros. Until this year, there are only a handful of Flemish companies in the game sector. The minister hopes that this measure will stimulate newcomers because the game industry is a very promising business.

Source: De Morgen, 08/11/2008

Laure Konings