Tiny Love
Tiny Love is a brand of soft developmental toys and developmental activity gyms for infants and children. In 1993, Tiny Love introduced a product called the "Gymini", a portable, collapsible sensory environment for floor playtime for small babies. This has become very popular, and is their flagship product.
The brand competes well with established rivals such as Fisher-Price, even though Tiny Love sells only 25 toys and accessories. As of 2004, the Tiny Love brand accounted for about 3 percent of the global market in baby toys, with annual exports of $50–60 million. It held a 25 percent global market share for musical mobiles and activity gyms. The company's revenues were growing by 25 percent a year at that time, with the most dramatic growth in the Far East, particularly in Japan.[1]
Corporate profile
The Tiny Love brand belongs to the Shilav Group, Israel's leading baby supply / toy store chain, owned by Isaac and Shosi (Shoshi) Oren.[2] The brand is headquartered at Tiny Love, Ltd., a small company located in Tel Aviv, Israel, where the toys are conceived and developed, and the website is managed.[1][3][4] The company has an American subsidiary, "Tiny Love, Inc.", based in New York City.[5][6] The toys are manufactured in China, and sold through partner retailers all over the world. Half of the sales are in the United States and the rest are in Europe, Japan and Australia.[1][7]
Tiny Love Ltd. is associated with the Maya Group Inc., a privately owned toy supply company headquartered in Garden Grove, CA.[8][9][10]
Product development
The Shilav Group believes that the competitive advantage of Tiny Love lies in being the first brand to identify the latest discoveries in the science of child development and translate them into new toys.[2] Toy development at Tiny Love is guided by scientific principles.[11] The Tiny Love team includes psychologists, child development experts, quality assurance specialists, parent groups and babies themselves. These contributors participate at every stage of product development.[1] Toys are developed beginning with the premise that "babies are intelligent, creative, and unbiased human beings with spontaneous and individual reactions."[12] Research for new toy development includes:[12]
- An understanding of babies' unique perspective on the world
- Long-term observation of babies in play situations
- Studies and observations of babies' responses to various stimuli and environments
- Professional knowledge of psychological and physiological theories on infancy
- Parent focus groups
- Analysis of market needs and trends
Recall of wind chime toys
On February 10, 2010, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada, in cooperation with the firm, initiated a voluntary recall of Tiny Love's wind chime toys, some of which are included in the company's popular "Gymini" product. The company had received five reports of babies pulling apart the wind chimes, exposing sharp metal rods. There was one report of a minor injury to a 24-month-old baby who punctured his cheek with the rods.[8] About 800,000 of the toys were sold in the U.S. and Canada. The toys were made in China, at a factory that Tiny Love has since ceased working with.[8][13]
References
- ^ a b c d "Not just baby's play", ISRAEL21c, May 16, 2004, accessed April 25, 2010.
- ^ a b Shilav Group website, "The Tiny Love Success Story Limit", accessed April 25, 2010.
- ^ Tiny Love, Ltd. is a company of between 20 and 50 employees, headquartered at 72 Rosen Pinchas, Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Israel. See Duns Guide Global: Israel Business Guide, "Tiny Love, Ltd.", accessed April 25, 2010.
- ^ Tiny Love website, "Terms of use", accessed April 25, 2010.
- ^ See U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, " Tiny Love Recalls Wind Chime Toys Due to Puncture and Laceration Hazards", press release, February 10, 2010 (accessed April 25, 2010).
- ^ Tiny Love, Inc. is headquartered at 131 west 33rd street, New York, NY 10001. See the Tiny Love website, "Terms of use", accessed April 25, 2010.
- ^ See U.S. Patent number D547993, issed August 7, 2007 (application number 29/260,996, filed June 6, 2006).
- ^ a b c U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, " Tiny Love Recalls Wind Chime Toys Due to Puncture and Laceration Hazards", press release, February 10, 2010 (accessed April 25, 2010).
- ^ "Tiny Love, Ltd.", Parents' Choice: Children's media and toy reviews, accessed April 25, 2010.
- ^ Goliath listing, accessed April 25, 2010.
- ^ "Patent application title: Infant activity mattress", patent application number 20090253342, Patentdocs, accessed April 25, 2010. This patent application states in part: "The activities which an infant carries out in the first months of its life plays an important role in the infant's acquisition of basic motor skills and in its ability to recognize differences in the shapes, colors and sizes of various objects, as well as differences between musical tones and other sounds. It is only by experience that the infant learns how to properly manipulate its arms and legs and to understand the nature of what it sees and hears. An infant whose activities in this crucial period are restricted, may suffer from an arrested development which may interfere with his future progress. In order to stimulate an infant into activities that will advance its development during the earliest period of its life, it is known to provide for this purpose an activity center designed to induce the infant occupying the center to turn around, to raise its head, to move its arm and leg appendages and to engage in other beneficial activities."
- ^ a b Tiny Love website, "Product Development", accessed April 25, 2010.
- ^ Tiny Love website, "Recall Information", accessed April 25, 2010.