This is a cute idea. I'm wondering if they make any money since on their website it says: "Child's Own Studio has custom made over 200 personal softies".
I'm thinking whether a redesign of their website and a more aggressive Facebook campaign (they only have 1000+ fans) would help them sell more. It probably would. No. It definitely would. They could also have a checkbox on the order form to allow other people to order their drawn creatures. And then have a top 10 on the front page with the most popular toys. They could even have a competition: which kid designs the cutest animal. Oh, I could make this a phenomenon.
Boy, I can't believe I'm thinking about strategies of how I would improve a toys' business. Eh, just 2AM rant.
You might be able to make something based on this idea a phenomenon, but if all your suggestions were followed, the result would not be this at all.
First of all, who is they? It seems like this is an individual woman. That's part of the appeal, that this isn't a mass market product, but a work of love made by a real person for a real person.
The uniqueness of the toy is part of the appeal as well. If other people order the same toy, first of all, what is the point? You can buy stuffed toys anywhere. What you can't do anywhere is order custom stuffed toys. But more importantly, what does duplication do to the appeal of the original toy?
Adding competition would be equally disastrous I think. It makes the whole process a game, and anything that can be gamed will be gamed. If there is any reward at all in having the most popular toy, even just recognition, then you can bet that adults will start making drawings and saying they were from children. Further, the competition will distract the children who draw from focusing on the specialness of having their drawing come to life and instead turn their focus to how well their drawing is performing.
Your ideas may make a popular and profitable business, but it would be fundamentally different from the business here. You can't scale personal connection, and you can't duplicate uniqueness.
Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that you thought up all these ideas. I just don't think this woman should apply them. What she has is special, profitable (probably even enough so to live on), and makes a positive impact on the lives of her customers.
You're absolutely right. I used to hand-knit hats to a particular nerdy gamer theme, and was very quickly overwhelmed with orders (even at US$65/hat, which is a lot for a knit beanie!).
I had to institute a "slot" system where I'd open up orders for a short time, get a bunch, then knit my way through them. Once they'd all been shipped out, I'd open up for more orders (if I wasn't sick of knitting the damned things by that stage ;). It worked pretty well and kept me in pocket money through the last stages of my PhD.
One thing I decided was that I'd never compromise in quality - I used very fine wools (malabrigo for those who know) and each hat was made to order from a "menu" of options. Throughout the process I'd keep the customer up to date on what I was doing and where they were in the "queue".
It worked really well, but I wouldn't want to do it for a living since I was underselling my time as far as labour costs go. And I got sick of knitting so many hats. :)
You wouldn't necessarily want to set the standard price significantly higher, since at some point you'll trip a large number of people's thresholds for "too much for a hat". However, you could leave the price and queue system in place as it currently stands, and introduce a higher "queue-jumping" price. Effectively, that would make the slot a coupon, but the concept of a queue seems much more appealing (especially to a gamer audience).
Well, see it's weird, I already thought I was pushing the envelope at that price, given that you can pick up a knit hat from a shop for a couple of bucks. (I guess it's not the same sort of hat, but still - I've often had people ask me why I would knit something when I could buy it for so much less than it would cost to knit it.)
If I were to do it again I'd definitely charge more, because a) I'm not desperate for cash, b) I have better things to do, and c) the exchange rate to the US dollar is not very favourable ;)
I like the idea of a "queue jumping price" though. I think I might use that next time! I actually also got pretty good tips (which I'm not used to, not being American), which was flattering :)
If you read her blog you'll see that she's at capacity. If they really want to turn this into an enterprise (and I absolutely think they should!), they need to figure out how to handle more volume before getting more volume.
If they really want to turn this into an enterprise (and I absolutely think they should!)
Why's that? What if she's happy doing what she's doing now (sewing, turning fabric and stuffing into something amazing for a kid), and doesn't want to be a business woman?
In other words, if she wants a lifestyle company, why should she turn it into an enterprise?
I'm projecting. Besides, she could keep doing what she's doing and hire someone to take care of the business side. It's more than just the money, I think what makes this so appealing is how great it is for children...I think the more she can reach, the better.
People that like what they do make the most money. And you don't necessarily have to run the business yourself. Plus, I believe 90+% of people like money as well :-)
From what I understood from the other comments (site is not working), everything is custom made, unique and handled by one single person, that explains the price, and honestly, it seems okay.
If you outsource to China, you take all those Pros away and the product will turn into another toy factory.
Remember to add the cost of admin time to that though. Outsourcing like that is not going to be free and easy especially at smaller scales.
And most manufacturing operations are geared for bulk. Going this way you would lose the uniqueness of each item, which is sort of the whole point.
And with scares over the recent years with lead in paint and so forth, I'd be careful going to China for kids toys. Definitely don't go with the cheapest, and definitely have some strong QA provisions in your contract.
Boy, I can't believe I'm thinking about strategies of how I would improve a toys' business. Eh, just 2AM rant.