Idea Probe - Toy Boxes and the market opportunities

Market segment: 

In prehistoric times, toys existed to keep cave-kids busy and entertained. In prehistoric times, parents first experienced stubbing their toes on scattered toys. In order to keep toys stored and organized, toy boxes eventually made their way into caves and homes. Often big enough to hold a child's wordly possessions, toy boxes became a common piece of furniture found in most children's bedrooms.

• The idea here is that by knowing what people are searching for (keyword) on the internet, this gives us a glimpse into their potential purchase intention. By using various keyword analysis tools, not only do we get statistics about the specific keyword people have entered, but we also get a wealth of information with respect to other related search terms for that target keyword. This gives us an invaluable look into a market and the demand for a product and it's sought after features.
• Source: Google keyword database (English, Worldwide), Etsy, Amazon (USA)
• The analysis provided below is based on actual keywords that people have entered into a search.

Initial keyword used:

• The seed keyword used for this analysis was: toy box.
• The analysis was performed on: March 7, 2017
• Trend: Searches for this product category are significantly higher in the months of November to January.
• The Google keyword analysis accepts a keyword from which it provides a breakdown of similar searches as entered by Google search users

Let's start by looking at the actual top 30 Google keywords searched and their monthly search volumes:

Here are the top 10 web sites for the top keyword searched:

According to "Search Engine Watch", the likely traffic to the Google top ranking site is about 33% of the total monthly searches for a specific keyword. This means that Google users will typically select the first Google search result 33% of the time.  This is therefore where a large number of potential customers will start during their initial product shopping.

Top 10 web sites:

Sample page of the highest ranking web site for our seed keyword:

Since this is the highest ranking web site for our seed keyword, looking at the products they offer will give you a good idea about what is currently offered commercially.

* click the image to visit the page:

Micro-niche opportunities:

What you should keep in mind

• Realistically, it will not be easy to compete against the top ranking web sites if you plan to open your own internet store to sell this particular product. These top sites are recognized by the major search engines as being leaders in their field and a climb to the top of the ranks can be quite difficult and expensive.
• A visit to these top sites can provide you with a wealth of information regarding product price ranges, product features and customer ratings and feedback. Having access to this information is critical in understanding the market and determining if there is a niche that is right for you. Read our article on "Product Planning - Gathering Product Intelligence" for additional information on collecting competitor information.
• If, on the other hand, you want to sell your products in other venues such as at craft shows or craft websites (such as Etsy), you have an incredible opportunity to dominate these spaces if your product focuses on features that people are seeking in and outside of those particular venues. Here, not only can you tap into the product knowledge you've acquired online and in our article, but you can also carve out a micro-niche of products for people searching for unique features. 
• Make sure that if you ever decide to build and sell a particular product with some of the features shown below, that your marketing and sales descriptions include the target words.  This will ensure that prospective online buyers in those venues will find your products more easily.

Let's dig in!

Analyzing the individual words used in popular keyword searches:

Of the top 200 most popular Google keyword search phrases found for our seed keyword, we then performed a word analysis of these to determine the frequency and therefore the potential importance of the various words used in each keyword phrase. This is what we found:

• Rank: Popularity of a word or "search term" used with our seed keyword
• Word: Word used (Search term)
• Entries: Number of keyword phrases that included that word
• % Use: Percent of the top 200 keyword phrases that included that word

What's next?

Well, based on the total number of monthly searches for "toy boxes", we see that there is significant interest in that product.  The micro-niche opportunities abound for products with some of the features identified above.

Here are a couple of examples of how you can use this information to generate ideas for your next project:

1. bins, organizers, shelves - a traditional toy box tends to be a container with not too much organization built into it. Consider toy box designs with removable plastic/wood bins with easy-to-carry handles to store things such as Lego pieces, miniature car collections, baseball cards, doll accessories, etc. Look at the designs of fishing tackle boxes for inspiration.
2. personalization - there is nothing like having Johnny's name engraved or printed on his toy box. Explore wood engraving stencils or printing images onto wood (there are excellent how-to articles on the internet on how to do this). Have parents send you the child’s picture, or the child's name written in their own hand, or self drawn image and so on…
3. specialized, custom - many opportunities to provide toy boxes specifically designed for art materials, collections and sport's equipment
4. toy amusement center - how about designing a high end storage cabinet with a work surface and shelves for books/cd collections, drawers/bins for loose items. These cabinets could be designed as modules that parents can pick and choose from.

Do not ignore features that might have a low number of entries from the table above.  These could possibly be gold nuggets to make your products unique and desirable.  We are also not suggesting that your product design includes all the features. Not everybody wants a Swiss army knife. It is best that you consider designing variations of the product and sit back to see what sells the best.  Market testing can go a long way in identifying your particular and successful niche.

So, take your time and review the word analysis above and determine if you can include or focus on some of the ideas presented.

Now, let's take a look at some online craft venues to see what popular product searches are:

Here are the most common Etsy searches (not too useful - LOL):

And finally, for further inspiration, examine a word frequency analysis for our seed keyword in non-ranked search phrases on Amazon (USA):

Conclusion:

Interest in toy boxes is significant with a wide range of opportunities. 

By using our Google analysis and the popular searches on Etsy and Amazon, you now have a much better idea of the possibilities to design, build and sell items that are sure to please many customers.  Keep in mind that the construction of toy boxes requires special care with respect to avoiding the use of toxic wood species, paints and finishes, and to ensure the toy box is safe to use.

What you decide to do is entirely in your control.

Enjoy these opportunities!

Additional information:

In our article "Product Planning - Gathering Product Intelligence", find out how you can gain more competitive information about this niche and how you can potentially differentiate your craft from what is on the market today. Our accompanying article "Pricing - The Human Psyche", find out how you can position your product in the market and price it accordingly.