Toys and Electronics: The Packaging Curse

I've been meaning to write a post about packaging for a while. There are plenty of examples of poor packaging - long enough for a whole chapter in a "How to Piss Off Your Customers Before They Use Your Product" book. (hmmm . . maybe that'll be my next venture -- think anyone will buy?) But to write something constructive, rather than simply rant, well . . .

Let's start with electronics. Who came up with that impossible to open, cut-your-hands-till-they-bleed hard plastic that all electronics come in these days? And more importantly, why?? Why would you do this to your customers? Apparently there's a really great reason because it seems that every device from every retailer comes this way - from $10 cheapo ear phones to pricey cameras. It doesn't matter that the outside box is easy to open if the inside plastic requires 12 inch scissors to get through. My best guess: it's to prevent shoplifting by taking the item out of its packaging in the store and absconding with it in the pocket. But why punish ALL your customers for the misdeeds of a few?

Another example are metal twisty-ties that now attach all toys to their packaging. (Longer and stronger than the things in the grocery produce aisle.) I couldn't think of a reason for these -- perhaps someone who works in retail and/or the toy industry can enlighten me. But picture this scene: a 2-year-old gets a gift-wrapped toy, rips open the wrapping and the box, takes out the toy, only to have the parent take it back to separate the toy from its packaging. He's either on to doing something else and forgets all about the toy, or worse, starts crying while the adult untwists 20 twist ties and puts them out of the child's reach because THEY ARE NOT SAFE FOR CHILDREN! Seriously, who thought this was a good idea? Was this the customer experience they were going for?

And this brings us to the constructive portion of this post: when thinking about your product and the 5 'P's, think about the entire consumer experience -- from what the consumer will see on the store shelf (real or virtual), to the buying experience, to the experience of getting the item home, to opening it, and then using it. Given the plethora of "me-to" commodity items in both toys and electronics, perhaps easy-to-open packaging will be the next differentiator.

Sound, Sound, turn off the Sound!!

Attention all toy designers, manufacturers, retailers (are you listening Amazon, Walmart?), and everyone else in the toy industry: For the love of everything that is holy, please put a volume control and an on/off switch on any toy that makes any kind of sound. Whether it's motion activated, button activated, touch activated, whatever. Please, please give the parents the ability to turn it off!!! .

Let me give you a use case just to help you write the requirements (do they have product requirements in the toy industry?):

The mother is trying to put down her infant down for a nap. She is sitting in his bedroom, in a glider/rocker, with the infant in her arms. The baby is almost asleep and ready to be put in her crib. Suddenly, the infant's older sibling runs into the room, looking for his mother. A stuffed animal (the product in question) on the shelf, which has a touch-activated mooing capability, falls off the shelf as the sibling walks by and accidentally brushes by it. The fall causes the toy to start mooing loudly. The infant wakes up and starts crying, causing the mother to take the toy, and throw it out the window under the wheels of a passing car.

If the toy had an on/off switch, it would have been in off position. The fall would not have caused it to moo, the infant would have been happily asleep, and the mother would have kept her sanity.

Now really, do you want to be responsible for mothers all over America losing their sanity because you neglected to add a 50 cent feature to your product?