If you remember, in November I created a plan for Happy Dinosaur to hold myself accountable for the progress of the brand. It looked something like this:
January 2022
January is going to be a an important planning stage for me to prepare for the possibility of increased demand on Happy Dinosaurs from website orders. I have several things to consider about setting up a website. For instance
Should I allow custom dinosaurs to be made through the website?
Should I stick to pre-designed colors that you’d have to chose from?
Should I include my other dinosaur products besides the plushies such as my mini-backpacks and stickers?
How can I keep track of my orders and shipments?
Should I keep shipping restricted to within the United States or allow international shipping?
How can I keep up with the demand for dinosaurs with only one person making them?
Should I get additional trademark and legal protection for the Happy Dinosaur brand before I launch?
I would like to spend January drafting questions and answers so I can prepare a business plan.
Now that we are already halfway through January, I thought I’d share some progress updates and also a catalogue of new Happy Dinosaur products.
As far as custom Dinosaur orders, I will continue to offer this option as customization is the most popular choice for client orders. I will be moving away from the Google Form down the road and replacing it with a choice to start with a blank 11 inch dinosaur and pick the colors online and have them appear on the dinosaur in a way not dissimilar to how you might choose the skin the color and accessories for your Snapchat Bitmoji. This will allow you to see what the colors look like on a digital dinosaur and be able to place more than one custom dinosaur order at a time. At this time, only 11 inch dinosaurs will be customizable.
I will have some non-custom dinosaurs available in various color pallets. This will be similar to “Pret-A-Porter” or “Ready-to-wear” fashion, in which you select a dinosaur who’s colors are pre-selected and ready to order. I’m thinking of calling them “Ready-to-Play” to distinguish them from custom dinosaurs. Recyclesaurs will also be featured as “Ready-to-Play” with the color options being random. These will include both 11 inch and 16 inch dinosaurs.
I will be including some other products such as backpacks and “Ready-to-Play” PLUSh size 16 inch dinosaurs. I would like to launch two new products this year, which will be described below.
Right now, using a Google Form and digital receipt will be my method of tracking orders. I would like to develop a more professional system when I have a website to launch.
I have already shipped outside of the states without issues, so I think for now that I will continue to allow international orders and shipments.
As far as keeping up with demand, this is still a think-in-progress stage.
I will likely be pursing protection for Intellectual Property of the Happy Dinosaur brand and it’s products.
I still have quite a lot of work before I launch an online Happy DinoStore but I’m thankful to have Happy Dinosaur to keep me busy while I wait for this terribly long winter break to be over. Below is a catalogue of new product ideas that I am considering for this year. I would love your feed back on any of the products as you will know what products will generate consumer interest the best.
Happy Dinosaur 2022 Product Catalogue
Happy Dinosaur Hospital and Veterinary Scrubs
A prototype will be launched soon in blue and red dinosaur print cotton. I would like to feature Happy Dinosaur scrub tops that I think would be great for use in pediatric offices or small animal veterinary medicine.
Jumbo PLUSh Size Happy Dinosaur
I would like to add a third size to the Happy Dinosaur plush collection. I’ve done some research on sizes and a common theme I found among giant stuffed animals is a significant jump between $100.00 and $400.00+ stuffed animals. The bigger a stuffed animal gets, the greater the difference between the ratio of surface area to volume ratio, and the cost of stuffing gets significantly more expensive than the cost of the material to make the outside of the toy. The trend I found is that stuffed animals larger than three feet in any dimension will tip the scale, however, there is a substantial interest in four foot or larger stuffed animals (this is the size of a child). I don’t think I will be launching a four foot dinosaur any time soon because that would also cause shipping fees to be almost $50.
My two options for Jumbo PLUSh Size Dinosaurs are either a 24 inch tall dinosaur or a 36 inch dinosaur. I may feature a poll on the Happy Dinosaur Instagram to estimate how much people would be willing to pay for a giant Happy Dinosaur. Cost wise, I would estimate a three foot plush to be around $200-$250.
Heating Pad Happy Dinosaurs
I tried to make a prototype of a Happy Dinosaur laying down last year with a pocket insert for a Microwavable heating pad. My original design would require you to unzip the Dinosaur and microwave the heating pad separately and put it into the Dinosaur, and then be able to wash the Dinosaur when you take the pad out. The prototype worked decently but I knew if my target audience is younger children who might not read instructions, they might try to put the whole dinosaur in the microwave. At the time I had just switched from using metal backed safety eyes but I was concerned the dinosaur might melt. After contacting my fabric and stuffing vendors, I found out a Happy Dinosaur would not just melt but combust if microwaved for more than 20 seconds. Here paused my prototype experiment.
There was a significant interest in the heating pad dinosaur, especially for women and athletes so I would like to try a new prototype that won’t catch on fire.
Happy Dinosaur Kitchen Set
I’d like to try a gift set featuring a cotton Happy Dinosaur baking apron, dinosaur shaped or dinosaur printed oven mitts, and two Dinosaur patterned cotton dish cloths.
Happy Dinosaur Stationary
This would be a set featuring a Happy Dinosaur printed notebook, Happy Dinosaur shaped sticky notes, and Happy Dinosaur envelope labels.
Please share your thoughts or suggestions on these products! I can’t wait to share the scrubs prototype with you soon!