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ebolayatollah
Joined: 14 Nov 2005
Posts: 95
Location: Shanghai Soon
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 Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 11:13 pm Post subject: Is there a Market for Educational Toys/Products in China? |
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Well, I'm asking because I have a possible opportunity to represent LeapFrog when I come to Shanghai. I've been floating around the idea of representing LeapFrog on some level regarding sales/marketing in addition to teaching.
The products are real high quality stuff that teaches English, grammar, etc. on multiple levels in interactive formats. Basically the stuff is great for the classroom. I plan on bringing over some toys to use in the class to help me out.
So do you think there would be fairly decent interest in these types of products?? |
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ebolayatollah
Joined: 14 Nov 2005
Posts: 95
Location: Shanghai Soon
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| Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 2:30 am Post subject: |
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Holy Crap! The avatar stays the same size as the hosted file. Hahah. Thought it would shrink it down. Guess I was wrong.  |
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vikdk
Joined: 25 Jun 2003
Posts: 1676
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| Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 5:30 am Post subject: |
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| is any of the stuff for kids to use at home? if so you can use kindies or schools as outlets - thats how a lot of "educational" toys are sold - but you need to be realy good at negotiating, most heads will try an scalp you (a head scalping a head ) - if you have some kindy type stuff I'd like to take a look |
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Louras
Joined: 24 Nov 2004
Posts: 288
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| Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 7:31 am Post subject: Yes, there is a market..... |
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| If you can bring the stuff in 300% below cost price. This is China, my friend. No one in the world, and that includes the Indians, can make things cheaper than the Chinese. |
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ebolayatollah
Joined: 14 Nov 2005
Posts: 95
Location: Shanghai Soon
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| Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 8:10 am Post subject: Re: Yes, there is a market..... |
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| Louras wrote: |
| If you can bring the stuff in 300% below cost price. This is China, my friend. No one in the world, and that includes the Indians, can make things cheaper than the Chinese. |
We make all our products IN China.  Pretty sure that if I end up doing business they will be ALOT cheaper in the country. Plus, its a hot new market that I know LeapFrog wouldn't mind getting a go in. They don't have anybody doing this there, so I would be the only one.
| vikdk wrote: |
| is any of the stuff for kids to use at home? if so you can use kindies or schools as outlets - thats how a lot of "educational" toys are sold - but you need to be realy good at negotiating, most heads will try an scalp you (a head scalping a head ) - if you have some kindy type stuff I'd like to take a look |
Check out www.leapfrog.com
There is everything from baby up to teen in age range. Like I said, this is still in the works for me as a possibility. I'm trying to guage interest right now with schools and such and see if this would be something worthwhile to persue in addition to teaching.
Personally, after having tested leapfrog toys for over 3 years, I plan on using them quite extensively in the class and for tutoring. Kids love the damn things. |
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KL
Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Posts: 112
Location: Beijing/Los Angeles
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| Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 8:57 am Post subject: |
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My daughter has lots of Leapfrog toys (purchased in the US). She loves them and I do think they are very educational. Her favorite is a little interactive shopping cart. Have to say...I get a little tired of "Tad's" singing but love that she can use the toy in so many different ways.
Re: Entering the Chinese market
In affluent areas there is a vast potential market for high end toys and learning materials. A woman here in BJ recently opened a Children's import English book store and is doing amazingly well in spite of the fact that the books have no Chinese in them and are easily seven or eight times the price of local books.
The biggest headache would have to be piracy and rip-offs of your product. It wouldn't take long before Leaptoad knockoffs of poor quality and ridiculously low price were in the markets. I don't know how this would effect your business.
I do think it is interesting that you mentioned they would available here for a lower cost. Right now, most high quality toys by Fisher Price, Playskool, Chicco etc. are definitely more expensive to buy here in China. I can never figure this out as I know they are all made here too!
Anyway, good luck! I will definitely be a customer! |
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ebolayatollah
Joined: 14 Nov 2005
Posts: 95
Location: Shanghai Soon
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| Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 9:27 am Post subject: |
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| KL wrote: |
My daughter has lots of Leapfrog toys (purchased in the US). She loves them and I do think they are very educational. Her favorite is a little interactive shopping cart. Have to say...I get a little tired of "Tad's" singing but love that she can use the toy in so many different ways.
Re: Entering the Chinese market
In affluent areas there is a vast potential market for high end toys and learning materials. A woman here in BJ recently opened a Children's import English book store and is doing amazingly well in spite of the fact that the books have no Chinese in them and are easily seven or eight times the price of local books.
The biggest headache would have to be piracy and rip-offs of your product. It wouldn't take long before Leaptoad knockoffs of poor quality and ridiculously low price were in the markets. I don't know how this would effect your business.
I do think it is interesting that you mentioned they would available here for a lower cost. Right now, most high quality toys by Fisher Price, Playskool, Chicco etc. are definitely more expensive to buy here in China. I can never figure this out as I know they are all made here too!
Anyway, good luck! I will definitely be a customer! |
Well, at lower cost possibly compared to what we have here. I wouldn't be in charge of pricing. Like I said, I still need to talk to marketing and see what they can do.
Basically though, Leapfrog toys are the highest quality educational toys out there and they are marketed as such and seem to do well that way. In that sense, I'm not concerned about ripoffs because they don't have the leapfrog brand name. Plus, there are already multiple leapfrog rips over there. But they won't last long, and the content either sucks, or is buggy as hell. If we had our products there for direct competition, the difference between the two would be glaring. That's what I'm hoping to plug the higher ups.
And I really think I could seriously help out some teachers in Shanghai. I know for a fact that learning materials (Good ones anyway) are hard to come by. Hell, they are here.
And you get tired of Tad's singing? Man, you don't understand. After having to listen to the "ABC Song" a couple hundred times, I'm ready for screaming children.  I'd like to get a chance to use the stuff I've been working on, and that's what I'm going to do. In the process, maybe I can make something out of it and help some people along the way.  |
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kev7161
Joined: 06 Feb 2004
Posts: 5880
Location: Suzhou, China
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| Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 9:32 am Post subject: |
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I actually was looking at the leapfrog website recently. The costs to get them here are a little prohibitive, so I'd love to have them available locally. Next year, I'm planning on actually having some educational games in my classroom for when the kids are between lessons. I'll pick some things up this summer. Keep me/us posted on what happens.
Feasible? Who knows? Possibly in major metropolitan areas. |
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vikdk
Joined: 25 Jun 2003
Posts: 1676
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 5:21 am Post subject: |
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Had a look at those �toys� � far too much stuff like that in china to begin with and doubtless the kids enjoy them but their educational effect (at least for small kids) is often is under dispute. Here is piece from an interesting article �
| Quote: |
Toys are simply the best
Traditional building blocks and Play-Doh are far better for children's learning than high-tech educational toys and videos, experts have revealed. Psychologists are warning that many expensive games might actually restrict children's progress by stifling their creativity and hindering their social skills. American child development expert Professor Kathy Hirsh-Pasek believes youngsters spend too long in front of television and computer screens when they could be playing with basic toys. In a new book titled Einstein Never Used Flash Cards, she claims that so-called 'smart' toys fail to teach children to play imaginatively. In contrast, wooden blocks, crayons, costumes, paints and balls help them develop crucial lifelong skills such as problem-solving and perseverance. They also make it easier for parents to join in, which is vital for boosting children's learning.
Professor Hirsh-Pasek, of Temple University, Philadelphia, said: "Nowadays, toys we select for children have the hidden agenda of making them learn, but those toys do the opposite. They usually look for a single, correct answer to a problem because they are busy teaching skills. Today's kids don't need to be fed information through toys. They need to combine facts in innovative ways to become creative problem solvers. Well-meaning parents are simply being caught in an expensive trap. If parents really want to prepare their children for life in the next generation, they would be better looking in the least-travelled aisles in toy shops." Professor Hirsh-Pasek warned that parents are increasingly substituting activities such as reading, playing and singing rhymes for the easier option of placing them in front of computers or videos.
She added: "We learn best by having another person play with us. When parents have opportunities to play with children, they get more out of it. Children gain better reading, maths and social skills when adults play with them."
Her views are backed up by another expert, Matthew Melmed, who agreed that high-achieving parents who attempt to 'hothouse' their toddlers with educational software and toys could be doing more harm than good. Mr Melmed, executive director of the Zero to Three centre in Washington, which collates parenting research from across the U.S, said the trend was leaving children as young as three frustrated and prone to tantrums.
Examples of educational software include Baby Mozart and Baby Beethoven videos which are aimed at one to three-year-olds. They contain music and visual images designed to stimulate youngsters. Next August, Fisher Price is launching Power Touch, an electronic book which teaches three-year-olds to read using phonics.
(The Daily Mail, 13 January 2004) |
I think the leapfrog stuff could be described as educational software -the whole article on play appears on this link
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/talktoyourbaby/play.html |
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ebolayatollah
Joined: 14 Nov 2005
Posts: 95
Location: Shanghai Soon
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 5:49 am Post subject: |
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| vikdk wrote: |
Had a look at those �toys� � far too much stuff like that in china to begin with and doubtless the kids enjoy them but their educational effect (at least for small kids) is often is under dispute. Here is piece from an interesting article �
| Quote: |
Toys are simply the best
Traditional building blocks and Play-Doh are far better for children's learning than high-tech educational toys and videos, experts have revealed. Psychologists are warning that many expensive games might actually restrict children's progress by stifling their creativity and hindering their social skills. American child development expert Professor Kathy Hirsh-Pasek believes youngsters spend too long in front of television and computer screens when they could be playing with basic toys. In a new book titled Einstein Never Used Flash Cards, she claims that so-called 'smart' toys fail to teach children to play imaginatively. In contrast, wooden blocks, crayons, costumes, paints and balls help them develop crucial lifelong skills such as problem-solving and perseverance. They also make it easier for parents to join in, which is vital for boosting children's learning.
Professor Hirsh-Pasek, of Temple University, Philadelphia, said: "Nowadays, toys we select for children have the hidden agenda of making them learn, but those toys do the opposite. They usually look for a single, correct answer to a problem because they are busy teaching skills. Today's kids don't need to be fed information through toys. They need to combine facts in innovative ways to become creative problem solvers. Well-meaning parents are simply being caught in an expensive trap. If parents really want to prepare their children for life in the next generation, they would be better looking in the least-travelled aisles in toy shops." Professor Hirsh-Pasek warned that parents are increasingly substituting activities such as reading, playing and singing rhymes for the easier option of placing them in front of computers or videos.
She added: "We learn best by having another person play with us. When parents have opportunities to play with children, they get more out of it. Children gain better reading, maths and social skills when adults play with them."
Her views are backed up by another expert, Matthew Melmed, who agreed that high-achieving parents who attempt to 'hothouse' their toddlers with educational software and toys could be doing more harm than good. Mr Melmed, executive director of the Zero to Three centre in Washington, which collates parenting research from across the U.S, said the trend was leaving children as young as three frustrated and prone to tantrums.
Examples of educational software include Baby Mozart and Baby Beethoven videos which are aimed at one to three-year-olds. They contain music and visual images designed to stimulate youngsters. Next August, Fisher Price is launching Power Touch, an electronic book which teaches three-year-olds to read using phonics.
(The Daily Mail, 13 January 2004) |
I think the leapfrog stuff could be described as educational software -the whole article on play appears on this link
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/talktoyourbaby/play.html |
To each their own.
But I can tell you that what we produce DOES Have value and we do make some "toys" for direct to class situations. |
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vikdk
Joined: 25 Jun 2003
Posts: 1676
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 6:34 am Post subject: |
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| point taken - and anyways it would be nice to see kids playing in Chinese kindies, period - if the kindies need to fool themselves with trad educational motives to allow this otherwise essential developemental process so let it be. |
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andrew_gz
Joined: 15 Feb 2005
Posts: 502
Location: Reborn in the PRC
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 8:19 am Post subject: |
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First post, "I have a possible opportunity to represent LeapFrog"
Most recent, "what we produce DOES Have value and we do make some "toys" for direct to class situations."
I? We?
Good luck with your endeavor. |
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ebolayatollah
Joined: 14 Nov 2005
Posts: 95
Location: Shanghai Soon
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 9:25 am Post subject: |
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| andrew_gz wrote: |
First post, "I have a possible opportunity to represent LeapFrog"
Most recent, "what we produce DOES Have value and we do make some "toys" for direct to class situations."
I? We?
Good luck with your endeavor. |
"I" as in "I would be the sole representative in Shanghai for Leapfrog."
"We" as in "I would still be working for LeapFrog so it would be 'we' "
It isn't as if "I" produce the toys myself you know....
What's hard to understand about that? Did I miss something here? |
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Ferne
Joined: 29 Apr 2003
Posts: 177
Location: GZ
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| Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 3:19 am Post subject: |
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| My first thought when reading the discussion header was "in China, don't ask whether there is a market - create one" Sounds like you already know how...good leap, um, luck! |
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