Working It Out

Typically, putting together an issue of Playthings is pretty straight forward. There are always one or two key product categories that we know long in advance we'll cover as part of our ongoing look into how the business is faring, product segment by segment. Typically, one of them is featured on the cover—last October, for example, it was science toys. In addition, there are a few standing departments that appear monthly, and then the rest gets filled in based on what we learn is happening in the marketplace by talking to people.

This month, though, we've been pulled in a different direction. Normally at this time of year we'd be talking about the annual fall preview show, looking for early signs of 2008 trends, prepping for the eventual (and inevitable) “how's it going?” holiday stories and gearing up for our Toy Fair issue, which may seem like a long way away, but we'll be deep into it long before Thanksgiving Day leftovers run out. And, to a degree, we're doing that—we still have a story about science toys and our Fall Toy Preview section—but as we're all well aware, this has certainly been an abnormal time in the marketplace, and that's impacted what we're presenting to our readers this month, too. So, instead of using this issue primarily as a means to look forward at product, we also felt it necessary to look forward in the harsh light of this season's toy recalls at the impact those events are having—and will continue to have into the future—on how you do business.

In the story “Hard Work Ahead,” we talk to manufacturers about how they plan to do business in China in the future with regards to quality control of their products. Their answers provide an overview of the competing forces at work in the modern toy business, from the efforts that large suppliers like Hasbro and MGA Entertainment continue to make to try to ensure product safety, to the daily decisions smaller firms must grapple with in walking the fine line between producing what they believe the market wants and deserves, and what economics will allow them to manufacture profitably.

Meanwhile, back at home, retailers have been left waging a battle of their own—for the hearts and minds of customers left noticeably shaken by the events of this summer. In “China Syndrome,” several independents weigh in on what the reaction's been from their shoppers and what they're doing to meet it, helped by their vendors' efforts to keep them informed about who's making what where, and how safely they're doing it. Surprisingly, some retailers say they've seen business increase because of the recalls as consumers more actively search out higher-quality options than what they might have settled for in the past. “[Consumers have] finally learned that there is a danger to the lowest price provider,” says one store owner, “and so they're looking for things that not only are not made in China, but are better quality than they're used to finding in the big stores.” That's good news for the industry's most vulnerable segment—retailers who rely on toy sales year-round as their primary business.

There's also good news, overall, in the degree to which the industry is responding on a macro level. The Toy Industry Association has been out front in its efforts in Washington and in the media to keep consumers and their watchdogs informed of the efforts already underway to better safeguard toys and the children who play with them. And it's been proactive in guiding the creation of a more consistent system of standards and testing procedures with the American National Standards Institute, to help better ensure that product safety is consistently maintained in the future.

All in all, it's been a busy month across the toy business, and that's a good thing. It all points to progress in reshaping the toy industry into something that consumers can once again trust. For manufacturers, safety testing standardization will better codify the rules of the game so that producers of all sizes can be sure their efforts to make safe playthings aren't being undercut by competitors. They'll know that while the cost of doing business has gone up, it has done so for everyone, and that it has done so for everyone's good.