Industry leaders, retailers, and manufacturers weigh in on toy trends, changes, and more in The Toy Book’s annual State of the Industry Q&A.
ANDY KEIMACH, President, VTech Electronics North America
VTech created licensed Go! Go! Smart Wheels for the first time ever last year. Are there any plans to expand the partnership with Disney or any other licensors?
We couldn’t be happier with the success of the licensed Go! Go! Smart Wheels line, and we’re looking forward to continuing the momentum with the expansion of the line this year. In addition, we’re partnering with Netflix to develop a new animated series and toy line based on our Go! Go! Smart Wheels toys.
Many retailers stepped up their offerings for the 2018 holiday season. How many of these changes will stick? Will consumers have as many options for holiday shopping this year?
With so many ways to shop, retailers focused on personalized shopping experiences for customers this past holiday season. Consumer expectations continue to rise, so I think we will continue to see retailers and manufacturers working hard to anticipate these rising expectations. VTech prides itself on working closely with our retail partners to deliver great product and product experiences that seek to excite and delight our consumers.
How did the demise of Toys “R” Us challenge you to rethink the way you did business last holiday season?
The U.S. market remains diverse and dynamic! The departure of Toys “R” Us from the U.S. market presented us with both great challenges and a tremendous opportunity. With so much market share suddenly up for grabs for both manufacturers and our retail partners, it allowed us to work even more closely with them. We are fortunate that we can call on our continuous stream of innovative products, speed to market, and new product experiences to deliver very tailored and winning programs that will attract consumers to their stores and our VTech and LeapFrog brands.
How do changes in school curriculums affect the way you develop educational products?
We’re always cognizant of the growing list of skills children are expected to be fluent in by the time they reach school age, and we know school-readiness is a concern for many parents. Our VTech and LeapFrog products are designed to serve as a complement to the early skills children are learning at home, such as vocabulary, letters, numbers, colors, and more. We also work with a team of in-house learning experts to ensure we’re introducing a wide variety of beneficial, age-appropriate skills. We will continue to develop our educational toys to reinforce school curriculums in an exciting and engaging way to make it fun and create a strong foundation for lifelong learning.
