KIDS INDIA MAGAZINE JULY 2017 ISSUE | Page 5

sized digital tablets designed for families to engage in digital games; crafts; jigsaw puzzles; card games; STEAM play formats like flash cards and workbooks and soft toys like Nerf products. order. They are impatient if they don’t get their food in minutes. Smart toy and play companies will insert themselves into the car interior creative process in order to help them develop modular toys and storage options so that play can smoothly move from home to car and back. Even smarter play companies will seek out exclusive relationships with car companies and co-branding. Also in the area of the production of goods we can assume that companies will rethink: Chinese toy and play compan ies, much like Japanese automobile companies did with cars, will open assembly centers in North America and Europe. 3. ACT GLOBAL, PRODUCE LOCAL 2. THE COMING COLLAPSE IN TIME TO MARKET Drone delivers package Remember the “New York Minute”? This New York phenomenon of doing or getting something instantly has been globalized. In fact some commentators are making the case that getting it there the quickest is replacing getting it there the cheapest as a major value to consumers. As a result, we are predicting that manufacturers are going to face a collapse in the time that retailers will allow for goods to reach their destinations. We already can see that consumers who purchase online now expect to receive products in one day. In fact, some companies are planning to get that time down to minutes. Amazon is currently working on a delivery system that will, through the use of drones get you your order in 30 minutes. Uber is working on a system that will utilize their drivers to get you a food order in less than ten minutes. As I wrote in the “Toy and Play Futurist Letter”: This is not the first time in history we have experienced a rise in speed to market expectations. In the age of steamships, passengers were prepared to take a week or two to cross the Atlantic. You may have noticed that air travel, promising hours rather than days to Europe, has supplanted passenger ship travel. Similarly, McDonalds, which introduced “fast food” in the 1950’s, created an entire industry by changing the time expectation. Just watch people twitch, look around, and glance ahead while waiting in line for their In fact, some Chinese companies may choose to move the production of products that lend them- selves to automated plants to their customers’ home countries. Manufacturers are going to make some hard calcula- tions on how gross profit can be impacted by the length of time and the uncertainties that come with overly long supply chains. Richard Gottlieb is a globally recognized consultant and commentator on the business of toys and play. He is the founder of Global Toy Experts; the Publisher of Global Toy News and the author of the Toys & Play Futurist Letter. He is a voting member of the Toy Hall of Fame and the author of the book, “Ambassador to the Kingdom of Wal-Mart”. If you would like to let him know what you think about his ideas of the future of play, please feel free to contact him directly at richard@globaltoyexperts.com. www.globaltoyexperts.com & www.globaltoynews.com Kids India Mag Issue: July 2017 | Page 03