That's life

Today's kids want items that express individuality, connectivity, family values and spirituality. "They need to create their own lifestyle; a trend that falls counter to the way the toy industry usually works in creating an item, advertising it on TV and selling it," according to Michael Collins, CEO of Manchester, N.H.-based Idea Group, a product development company.

Kids not only want to communicate with each other via high technology, such as cell phones with instant messaging, they want to accessorize their looks according to their own 'style' and create their own environment. They also want to record their lives with scrapbooks, photo albums, diaries and journals.

Stocking such lifestyle products is a way for retailers to bridge the toy-gap and develop customer loyalty for additional years.

Manufacturers, summoned by the call of these blossoming consumers are addressing their 'wants' by introducing entire lines of items that fit the 8-year-old-plus age group, known collectively as tweens.

Lava World, for example, manufactures lava and glitter lamps that fit the lifestyle criteria. And Huffy has seen sales soar with its Micro Monkey Bike, a miniature bicycle with six-inch wheels that fits the trend criteria. The bike comes in three models: Hear No Evil, See No Evil and Speak No Evil. "This product is different than anything we've seen in the past," Bill Smith, vice president of sales and marketing for Huffy, tells PLAYTHINGS. "They are more playful than bicycles and last year's scooters." Stores such as Zany Brainy and Sports Authority cannot keep them in stock, according to Smith.

Although many independent stores are hesitant to stock the so-called hot sellers, A Wing and A Prayer, an independent retailer in Norwell, Mass., has broken into the lifestyle niche. Offering night-lights and beaded curtains for doors, in addition to crafts and kits, owner Carla Philip sees these items fitting in well with both today's lifestyle products for tweens and her store's traditional toy mix.

"The ability to carry those things depends on the type of toy store you are," comments Philip, adding she has found sales in this between category to be "okay."

Another retailer, Sandcastle Toys, an independent in Newport, Ore., is leveraging the current retro craze by offering 'stuff' like hanging beads, party lights and Chinese lanterns. "Anything to create atmosphere in their rooms," comments Bill Taylor, store owner.

While some independent retailers are broadening their merchandise to include lifestyle products, many kids are more inclined to dash into more grown-up stores like CVS, Claire's or Sports Authority for their 'cool' stuff. These retailers fully recognize the buying power this group represents and stock shelves with items that appeal to it.

Through his own research, Collins finds that the 8-years-plus crowd won't go within 10 feet of a traditional toy store when at the mall. "We have to stop looking at stores such as KB or Toys R Us as a proxy for what kids are buying," he states. "These kids are into sports, yoga, karate, club activities and are go, go, go. They are moving into a broader categorization."

Diane Gervais, store manager with Amato's Toy & Hobby, an independent retailer with locations in New Britain and Middletown, Conn., remarks that their products do not fall into what a traditional mass retailer would sell. Their offering centers on creative products such as kits, décor and models.

"In that age group we find that a lot of kids, especially girls, want body décor or body art," Gervais says. "We also find room décor items popular as well, just as with adults. The movement to disposable home decorations has filtered down to kids," she adds.

Overall, Gervais believes there has always been a market for items that express individuality.

Manufacturers are keeping in step with today's tech-savvy, fashion-conscious tween by increasing their lifestyle offerings. Mattel now offers the Barbie brand in 30 lifestyle categories from clothing to furniture, cosmetics to electronics. "We have been able to do this by striking a balance in volume and perception," says Richard Dickson, senior vice president worldwide, girls consumer products for Mattel.

Among the offerings are Barbie Travel Luggage and Barbie eyeglasses for girls who may be resistant to wearing their first pair of glasses. The eyewear features 10 different frames that come in a variety of shapes and colors such as lilac, cotton candy, root bear and denim. Also being introduced are personal care items from shampoo and bath gel to nail polish and lip balm, as well as home furnishings, housewares and school items like Barbie pencils and spiral notebooks, art supplies, glitter gel pens, 3-D desk accessories for home and stationery.

The strategy has been successful, Dickson says, with stores such as Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, and Kmart and "even Lord & Taylor and Federated Department Stores."

Mattel is incorporating the Barbie brand into learning products too. The Barbie B-Book Laptop helps develop memory, spelling, punctuation and math skills. Bank With Me ATM, teaches the basics for saving money and the B-Smart Math 'N Secrets Tech Bracelet is "an ultra-hip accessory that helps develop math and vocabulary skills," according to Dickson.

Jumping on the laptop bandwagon, VTech has its Vapor and Power Zone. Vapor, a sleek, silver laptop with a hand-held personal digital assistant (PDA), offers students 44 curriculum-based activities, including math and foreign language phrases. The product gives kids the ability to save their work onto VTech's Smart Cards for future reference. The PDA can be popped out from the laptop, and features touch-screen technology.

VTech's Power Zone Plus products feature a word processor and 52 language arts, math and trivia activities in both desktop and notebook formats. Each learning unit can be 'synched' to exchange information between the learning product and a PC.

"Over the years, VTech has been very successful in making products for 5- to 9-year-olds, so it could be a natural progression for VTech to expand to a slightly older audience as well," Amir Zaheer tells PLAYTHINGS .

Zaheer, product manager for VTech, says "The 9- to 12-year-old audience is growing rapidly, and often its specific needs are overlooked in the marketplace." The company will "certainly be looking for opportunities there," he adds. Zaheer also notes that traditional toy stores are becoming more aware that they may be losing tweens to other outlets, including online stores. "As a result, we've seen a conscious effort on their part to cater to this audience with the right products, the right atmosphere and even through retailers' own online stores," he says.

Tech Deck by X-Concepts is expanding into the lifestyle marketplace with a complete line of stationery products. Utilizing many of the same highly stylized graphics that popularized Tech Deck as one of the most popular miniature skateboard toys, the company is featuring artwork from top skateboard manufacturers. Suzanne Taylor, project manager, points to the company's new mini skateboards and finger skateboards as the latest hot ticket. "The goal of our business is to sell everywhere, including Wal-Mart, Target, KB, Kmart, Toys R Us and to hundreds of specialty toy stores," she says.

In addition to the core skateboard licenses, X-Concepts is launching an assortment of school supplies featuring the Tech Deck brand and its popular Tech Deck Finger Dude characters. The line of products includes portfolios, three-ring binders, theme and memo books, pencils, and erasers and sharpeners that are sized and styled like actual skateboard wheels.

Indeed, adding lifestyle merchandise to the product mix may be the best way to maintain the interest of both today's age-compressed 9-year-olds and their parents.

And speaking of parents, even though manufacturers may be aiming their products at an audience of kids, they are inadvertently picking up parents and other adults along the way (remember last year's scooter craze?). Realizing that adults as well as kids are a viable market for toys and lifestyle products, manufacturers are beginning to court this grown-up niche. It's a phenomenon retailers may well want to attract as well.

Hot Wheels, for example, recently launched a new lifestyle product it designed specifically for adult enthusiasts. Categorized under the 100 percent Hot Wheels line, the classic Twin Mill, the first-ever life-size replica of an original Hot Wheels design, the Hot Wheels Grand Am, and Hot Wheels stylized accessories made their premiere at the Specialty Equipment Market Association's (SEMA) International Tire Show.

Escondido, Calif.-based X-Concepts scaled the car concept down to a product that fits in the palm of a hand. Suzanne Taylor, the company's project manager, says that adults are big purchasers of her company's match-box car products. "We find people in their 30s and 40s who love to collect these items," she says. "The majority of our customers are kids or their parents, but this group thinks nothing of purchasing the toys for themselves."

Mattel's Dickson echoes these sentiments. "We have even extended the Barbie brand for the collector customers," he states.

Dickson finds that many women today still have an attachment to the doll of their childhood, adding "The adult market extends our product to a wider age group."