GoldieBlox SWOT Analysis

Founded and developed by Stanford graduate Debbie Sterling in 2012, Goldieblox has made it its main purpose to “get girls building”. By tapping into girl’s imaginations and creative thinking by using stories and construction sets, Goldieblox wants to give girls the confidence and boost they need to “disrupt the pink aisle” and inspire a future generation of female engineers. Better said by Sterling: “My head literally started spinning and I was so disappointed there weren’t things that would inspire girls to use their brains. The girl aisle was kind of about how to be pretty and I wanted to put something in there that girls can see that they too could find a passion in engineering and that they too could find these subjects fun.” (Vega, 2014) Goldieblox is a set of toys in the form of kits, which is then accompanied with storytelling in order to establish a connection with the act of building. There are currently three construction kits out for purchase: Goldieblox and the Spinning Machine, Goldieblox and the Parade Float, and Goldieblox and the Dunk Tank. Each kit is individually unique with different stories, design ideas, building possibilities, and accompanied parts all focusing on building spatial skills, engineering principles, and a confidence in problem-solving.

Strengths
-Low cost for kits
-Unique product
-Growing market
-Loyal customers
-Teaches basic principles of creative thinking and concepts of engineering
-Children are able to interact with parents throughout the project
-Challenges gender stereotypes of the types of toys young girls play with
-Committed to helping young girls raise their confidence and give them the tools they need to pursue math and science
-Can track status of kit packages ordered from online

-Use of Super Bowl Commercial in 2014

Weaknesses
-Design of product is only targeted towards girls
-Lack of advertising outside of United States
-New company: not well-known in toy market yet
-Colors should be more masculine as opposed to feminine (more gender neutral colors such as blue, green, and teal)
-Lack of one kit being able to build a variety of models (limited flexibility)
-Building materials are of poor structure

-Does not support international shipping

Opportunities
-Growing toy market
-Innovative product with room for improvement (more kits, more stories, harder projects)
-Increase marketing worldwide
-Making the toy appealable to younger as well as older kids (more challenging kits for older children)
-Bring technology and Goldieblox together- combine use of iPhone or iPad technology
-More in-depth stories to go along with kits

Threats
-Market is saturated with other larger and more well-known toy companies
-Competing against companies such as: Mattel, Hasbro, Nintendo, and The Lego Group
-Lego Friends: Lego product geared to appeal to girls with sets including “mini-doll” figures
-Companies such as The Lego Group and Nintendo have a much bigger stronghold on social media
-136,500 followers and 629,000 followers compared to Goldieblox’s 15,500

References:

Vega, Cecila. “Goldieblox Helping to Build a Generation of Female Engineers.” ABC News. N.p., 4 Sept. 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.