The booming eco-friendly toy market
amilies universally consider fun and play a crucial part in their kids' growing experience. This, along with easy affordability, has practically made toys a recession-resistant product. Hence, the market for toys is ever-stable and keeps evolving, as newer play cultures and teaching techniques keep coming into the mainstream every year.
Despite various economic fluctuations over the years and a whole pandemic, the toy market has historically been an industry that never saw a fall in demand! In fact, explodingtopics.com notes that
One such important trend in 2022 has been the explosion of eco-friendly toys worldwide!
As environmental concerns keep getting more real, eco-toys are carving an important place for themselves in a market that has been dominated by plastic. With widespread acceptance from consumers, green toys are likely to stay in vogue, ‘playing’ a key role in the industry.
The infant toys section has specifically seen a significant shift to eco-friendly equivalents. But what has led to this change & why will it stick?
Qalara lists out some of the market trends that have made eco-friendly toys the new normal, facilitating guilt-free play and restoring the balance the manufacturing industry has displaced over decades.
Post-pandemic behavior shift
The pandemic came with zero outdoor escapades and too much screen time for kids. Right from schooling to games and entertainment, all went digital. Parents, during this time realized the importance of formative toys and family games! An increasing emphasis on green concerns by the media has led buyers to embrace the idea of sustainability and environment preservation, making them explore green toys as an alternative.
As schools have also grown to use games and puzzles as integral components of online classes, they have extensively encouraged environmentally-conscious toy purchases.
Parents, too, are more comfortable purchasing wooden toys and believe them to be safer options.
A generation of progressive and inclusive play
Modern day consumers have been very appreciative of cross-cultural toys and feel that they are a great way to inculcate the ideas of inclusivity at an early stage. Be it an eastern toy palette that is bright and colorful or just an action figure of a colored ethnicity, parents are ready to make such purchases as opposed to previous generations that didn’t have so many options! Interestingly, a lot of inclusive toys have naturally been manufactured eco-friendly! According to prnewswire.com,
Adults becoming active consumers: The Kidults!
Toys ended up becoming the reason families got together during the pandemic. Family-centered card games and board games have hence picked up sales.
Many adults have even started collecting vintage and pop culture toys and take them very seriously. Mint-condition playing cards, fabric-based classic action figures, wooden tops, etc., have become a big market. With time, consumers above the age of 50 have also become a bigger demographic.
Finger puppets are great collaborative toys that bring the parents and the kids closer together. In a way, as the paying consumer also becomes a direct customer, attention towards responsible purchases is more!
And honestly, it's about time!
Today’s mainstream toys are extensively made of plastic, most of them are not recyclable and are disposed as quickly as they are bought. A jarring estimate by explodingtopics.com suggests that
This makes right about now the best time to change the situation, and everybody involved with these products is internalizing this idea. Eco-friendly toys are made from vegan fabrics, wood, and many other sustainable materials that companies around the world are trying to embrace and experiment with.
Qalara has brought many such sellers aboard its platform to the delight of retailers and buyers. In fact, a lovely range of handmade wooden toys sits proudly across many Hamley’s outlets too!
Also read: Qalara’s toys hit the famous Hamleys stores and check out some of these eco-friendly toys here.
As 2022 starts this new wave in a big way, we hope that the newer generation grows up in a world that cares. About people, nature, and everything we put into it!
~ Written by Dhanush Dandu
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