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Mom-Daughter Communication Promoted by Cooking Toys

 

(August 4rd, 2009)

Mom-Daughter Communication promoted by Cooking Toys

Japanese families today are seeking communication tools to spend quality time at home. Over the past 50 years, the traditional family structure has evolved through 3 generations to a more modern nuclear family with a working mom. Therefore, Japanese parents are now trying to create more quality family time at home with their children. For the past two years, “cooking toys” have found the way to satisfy consumers’ hidden demands, and continue to capture their hearts.

This new category of toy appeared in the market in year 2007 and is expected to continue its growth through the fiscal year of 2008. “COOK JOY SERIES” from BANDAI Co., Ltd., known for its “Tamagotchi” worldwide, has already accumulated sales of 500,000 cooking toys since the first release of Series 1 in July, 2007. Without any special cooking skills or long-hours of kitchen labor, you can make serious gourmet meals and desserts quickly, while having fun with family and friends. Toy manufacturers in Japan are continuously releasing cooking toys to capture their share in this fast growing market.

Bandai’s COOK JOY ‘Series 10’ was released on July 25, 2009, aiming for 70,000 sets in total sales by the end of the fiscal year March, 2010, according to Bandai’s recent press release.

Bandai Co., Ltd.
“GYOZA MAKER KURURIN PAO! (literal translation: dumpling maker roll-and-done!)” (Official release 2009/7/25, MSRP 3,150 JPN yen)
You can easily make dumplings and won-tons using this toy. (NOT for sale overseas)

Sega Toys has also recently launched their cooking toy series with popular animation character, “Anpan-man (literal translation: Bean-paste-bread man)”

Sega Toys Co., Ltd.
“ANPANMAN KUKKINGU TOI SIRIZU (literal translation: Anpan-man cooking toy Series)” (Sega Toys Co., Ltd. on 2009/6/18). According to Sega’s homepage, their sales goal for the 1st year release of this series is 130,000 sets.
“Anpan-man MOKOMOKO PANKEKI YASAN (literal translation: Anpan-man soft-and-fluffy pan cake maker)” (MSRP 3,675 JPN yen)

“ANPAN-MAN OUCHIDE KURUKURU AISUKURIN PATEI (literal translation: Anpan-man at-home swirling Ice-cream party)” (MSRP 7,140 JPN yen)

Reasons behind the popular trend in this sector of the industry may not only be the nature of the products but also some combination of consumer behavior and lifestyle changes, such as:

APPEALING POINT OF TOYS
- Simple enough to attract kids, while being innovative yet “traditional” to attract the kids-at-heart.
The toy is beautifully at balance between old-fashioned “analog” appearance and innovative “high-tech” functions, which cannot help but appeal to adults, as well. This is why adults without kids also purchase them as a gift or to use at their home parties.

CHANGE IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND LIFESTYLE
- More females (moms) are in the workforce in today’s changing society in Japan.
Increase in household income means increase in disposable income to spend on household toys to play with their children.
- “Food education(Shoku-Iku)” has become a key phrase in Japan over recent years.
The toy is a good tool to teach and learn with children about cooking, eating and importance of safe foods while playing together.

In addition, the recent recession has pushed consumers to spend less on eating-out and encouraged more staying-in and cooking-in.

Either way, toy manufacturers have found a way to satisfy society’s needs, with this dynamic change in consumer behavior and lifestyle, where they seem to continue their growth in market share within the toy industry.

KN
2009/08/04