DontPlayWithThat.com toy shop that strives to provide the best toys for adventurous toddlers and babies.
DontPlayWithThat.com is a recently founded toy shop that strives to provide the best toys for adventurous toddlers and babies.
The phenomenon is well-known to most parents. You’ll buy a toy as a gift for your little-one but instead of playing with the toy, they’ll gravitate toward, and be completely satisfied with, the box the toy came in.
This occurrence isn’t only true with boxes. Babies seem to want everything but their toys. Keys, phones, TV remotes, soda cans and many other household items are all little children’s favorites.
We’ve discussed the complex “why do babies want everything but their toys,” but it’s the reality.
Problems are: 1. Some of these items can be dangerous for the child, like the lead in keys or the sharpness of the soda can lid.
2. The toddler’s parents need their stuff! Whether it be now or later, after the child has already lost the item.
So we at Don’t Play With That set out to create the baby-safe toy version of many of these things. The goal is to maintain the child’s curiosity and adventure in an environment of safety and few parental-annoyances.
The Whole Story
Luben Redwood is a father and educator in the Midwest.
Toward the start of the pandemic, while everything was contracting economically, he noticed the aforementioned phenomenon. His daughter would prefer to play with his things from around the house then play with her toys.
After discussing this with fellow parents, it became obvious that this was extremely common. Many parents in-person and online joked about opening a toy shop with household-item-looking toys as their products.
So, that’s what Luben did.
The budget was extremely limited, so there was only a gradual trickle of one toy added to the line every few months.
Budgetary constraints also completely removed the option for paid marketing. This hamper would have probably guaranteed failure if not for one huge breakthrough.
TikTok. Thanks to TikTok’s algorithm of rewarding great content instead of follower count, @DontPlayWithThat was able to go viral many times and gather an audience of like-minded parents who are realistic about their kid’s wants and know how to laugh.
The rest is history.
The Current Challenges
With a looming recession, it’s no secret that consumers are pulling back some of their non-essential spending. This poses a huge challenge to burgeoning businesses.
Additionally, with supply-lines still somewhat sailed from the pandemic, products are taking longer to develop and are more costly.
It’s important for a business to be clear-eyed about the current challenges so as not to overextend themselves.
The Current Opportunities
The companies that remain solvent through this economic downturn will inevitably exist in a market where much of the competition doesn’t weather the challenges.
A shop can continue to build even at times of slowing sales, with things like: SEO, blog posts, product development and social media audience building.
Business Advice To Others
Open a TikTok account.
We were reluctant at first and weren’t sure how to create content for this new platform. But the results speak for themselves. Over 5 million views, all for no cost to the shop,
Simply find your own voice and style and be genuine. This will create audience trust. Showcase a sense of humor and you’ll be interacting with thousands before you know it!
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