www.spielwarenmesse.de » Wooden toys, craftworks, gifts » Market overview

Wooden toys are good because they are made of wood. Wood is good because it is natural. And natural is good because it stands for the survival of every one of us. It is not always good old German education in the form of giving toys that inspires people to buy wooden toys today. It is often sub-conscious motives that lead people to buy building blocks, sound cubes, pull-along or push-along animals, ball tracks or figures. These motives include, for example, the growing debate about nature and the environment and the fixation on sustainability, the current keyword in public discourse. Sustainability is projected onto toys, and nothing is better suited than toys made of wood, the epitome of enduring value.

Sometimes the motive is more profane, and it is the purchaser’s own vanity that is served by expensive wooden toys. The giver of presents acquires prestige and is buying an image and importance for himself at the same time. Long gone are the days of the archetypal purchaser with an eco-mission who the industry had to thank for a substantial part of the boom it experienced in the 1990s. Wooden toys are perfect for people who want to “invest” in their children.

Many retailers are registering slightly rising sales – despite the global economic recession. Particularly the big brands are in favour with consumers. The “new educated middle class” seems to be especially keen to buy expensive articles, because they have been shocked into action by the ongoing education debate.

In general, the “mean is cool” trend is declining. This development is helped by a new level of awareness on the part of consumers who meanwhile know what they want again, namely quality. They also know full well that quality only comes at a price, but they are prepared to pay that price again. It would be wrong, however, to speak of a single trend. Polarization is nearer the mark, because what is still important when making a purchase is how much money the buyers have in their pockets and their social status. At the moment, retailers see the medium-priced classes under pressure.

At the same time, products are becoming veritable storytellers: origin is restyled into the issue of the future, and the product is given an ethical dimension. The building block not only communicates play value, today it reflects an attitude. The ICTI Care Process (www.icti-care.org/audience/media.htm) is just one example of the new morals of the market. The reasons for this could be the product recalls in recent years and the debates about safety that keep returning precisely at Christmas time – it’s like our whole society developing in the direction of green living and customers being shown the meaning of solid, ethically produced and locally sourced. Today’s customers want to buy trust. Whether this will be a “sustainable trend” with growth opportunities for the industry remains to be seen. The omens are not good precisely in Germany, the stronghold of wooden toys.

This is due to the low birth rate, especially among academics, who are predestined more than anyone else to buy “educational toys”. Despite this, 2008 was not a bad year for the industry, and the curve is rising in 2009 too.

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