Prototype
Rainbow Loom’s Success, From 2,000 Pounds of Rubber Bands
September 03, 2013
LAST weekend in Fair Harbor, N.Y., on Fire Island, a few dozen children gathered on the boardwalk for the local tradition of selling lemonade, baked goods and painted seashells to passers-by at sunset. Among the children was Julia Colen, a 12-year-old vacationer from New Jersey, who in addition to hawking cupcakes and drinks was presiding over a stand overflowing with brightly colored bracelets. Julia and a friend had made the jewelry out of tiny rubber bands, using a crafts kit called Rainbow Loom.
“We had a lot, at least
100,” Julia estimated of their inventory, which they priced at $1 to $2
apiece. Sales were impressive that night — “we made like $68,” she said.
Julia is among hundreds of thousands of youngsters —
and parents — in the United States who are using Rainbow Loom. The kit
consists of two plastic template boards, a hook, 24 plastic clips and
600 multicolored mini rubber bands. From it, 24 bracelets can be woven
into patterns similar to those traditionally used in lanyards and
friendship bracelets, but more complex and colorful.
Rainbow Loom is the
invention of Cheong Choon Ng , a Malaysian immigrant of Chinese descent
with a graduate degree in mechanical engineering. He came up with the
idea in 2010 and began selling the kit while employed as a crash-test
engineer for Nissan.
In the past year, Rainbow
Loom’s popularity has soared, spurring hundreds of YouTube fan videos
and scores of so-called kidpreneurs like Julia. Now Mr. Ng is overseeing
a rapidly growing company that he started from his living room in Novi,
Mich.
Rainbow Loom began as Mr.
Ng’s attempt to impress his two daughters, Teresa, now 15, and Michelle,
now 12. One afternoon, the girls were making bracelets out of small
rubber bands, and when Mr. Ng tried to join in, he found that his
fingers were too big. He went to work creating a wooden board with push
pins, which helped improve his dexterity but was too bulky to win his
daughters’ approval.
Mr. Ng persisted, adding
rows of pins. “I was putting pins on two and three and four rows,
crisscrossing the rubber bands and making big bracelets,” he said.
Finally, the girls were hooked, and they began to use the board to make
gifts for friends and neighbors.
IT was Teresa who later
suggested that her dad try to manufacture and sell the loom. His
engineering background, which includes product design, quality control
and manufacturing experience, provided a solid foundation for the
project, and his brother, Cheong Yeow Ng, an engineer and inventor
living in Wichita, Kan., encouraged him to sell the product online.
As with many new ventures, the first challenge was financial. “All we had saved to invest was $10,000,” Mr. Ng said.
When he found that his
budget was too small for American manufacturers, he began vetting some
in China. He sank $5,000 into the molding for the template and the other
$5,000 into the kit’s parts.
A shipment of 2,000 pounds
of rubber bands arrived at the family’s home in the summer of 2011. Mr.
Ng assembled kits after arriving home from the office at night; his
wife, Tyng Fen Chan, worked on them during the day.
They had limited success
selling Rainbow Loom online, and their early attempts at placing it in
major toy stores fell flat. Part of the problem was that people didn’t
know what to make of the newfangled toy. To educate potential customers,
Mr. Ng and his daughters posted instructional videos on YouTube, and he bought Google ads to help spread the word.
In the summer of 2012, Mr. Ng’s luck changed. The owner of a Learning Express Toys
store, a chain of 130 franchises, placed an order for 24 looms, and,
two days later, she called to reorder. Soon, other Learning Express Toys
stores were clamoring for Rainbow Looms. The key to selling the kits,
it turned out, was educating buyers about how to use them. Specialty toy
and craft stores were just the place for loom demonstrations and
classes.
For Gary and Molly
Fitzpatrick, who own two Learning Express Toys stores in Ohio and one in
Michigan, the Rainbow Loom has been a boon for their franchises. “It’s a
substantial portion of our business right now,” Mr. Fitzpatrick said.
The kit is listed as one of the top toys of the summer of 2013 on the
chain’s Web site.
The Ngs initially called on
friends and neighbors to help assemble the product, but now that work
is done in China. Mr. Ng, who left his job at Nissan last fall, manages a
staff of 12 and rents a 7,500-square-foot warehouse near his home to
handle distribution. In all, 600 retailers carry Rainbow Loom, and just
over one million units have been sold at a retail price of $15 to $17
each.
The Rainbow Loom
has thrived at summer camps, many of which prohibit electronics. And
beyond selling bracelets instead of lemonade, children have been busily
posting how-to videos online. One YouTube user named Ashley has uploaded
four such videos; the most popular, in which she explains how to make what she calls “a starburst bracelet,” has attracted around 450,000 views since Aug. 1. The official Rainbow Loom videos have garnered a total of 4.6 million views.
But like any new product in
a competitive market, the Rainbow Loom faces challenges, including the
tendency of children’s toys to fade in popularity. To keep his brand
relevant, Mr. Ng is focusing on innovation.
“I am working on new tools
to make more exciting rubber bands and more bracelet patterns,” he said.
“I’m also expanding into designing accessories.”
Rainbow Loom has drawn comparisons to Silly Bandz,
the springy rubber bands that were ubiquitous on children’s wrists
several years ago. That company’s founder has branched out into watches
and other types of jewelry and has formed partnerships with brands like
Angry Birds and Barbie for themed bracelets.
IF Rainbow Loom attracts
imitators, the key to keeping them at bay is having “a secret sauce”
that no one else can replicate, according to Bill Aulet,
managing director of the Martin Trust Center for M.I.T.
Entrepreneurship and a senior lecturer at the M.I.T. Sloan School of
Management. Rainbow Loom’s community of enthusiasts could be just that
sauce.
“If there’s a whole
ecosystem around this product, and it becomes very profitable, then
someone would very likely come in and buy it,” Mr. Aulet said of Mr.
Ng’s company.
Aside from that possibility, Mr. Aulet said he believes that outside help will be required to expand the business.
“He’ll need muscle of some
sort,” Mr. Aulet said. “He’ll need a stronger team, more money, more
expertise, partnerships. The complexity goes up exponentially as he
starts to go national. It’s a whole new game.”
彩虹織機，小橡皮筋編織起的大生意
2013年09月03日
Jeff Kowalsky for The New York Times
吳昌俊設計了彩虹織機，一種突然流行起來的手工套件，它能把橡皮筋變成手環。
上周末，在紐約州火島的費爾灣(Fair
Harbor)，幾十個孩子傍晚聚集在木板人行道上，向行人兜售檸檬汽水、烘焙食品和塗了油彩的貝殼，這是當地的傳統。來自新澤西州的度假者、12歲的朱
莉婭·科倫(Julia
Colen)也是其中的一員，除了大聲叫賣紙杯蛋糕和飲料外，她還掌管着一家小攤，上面擺滿色彩亮麗的手環。朱莉和一位朋友用一種名為「彩虹織機」(Rainbow Loom)的手工套件和小小的橡皮筋製作了這些首飾。
朱莉婭估計了一下她們的存貨，「我們有許多貨，至少有100條。」每條腕帶的售價是1到2美元（約合12.2元人民幣）。那一晚的銷售業績不錯——「我們賺了大約68美元，」她說。
美國有數以十萬計的年輕人和父母在使用彩虹織機，朱莉婭正是其中之一。這個套件包括兩個塑料模板，一枚鉤針、24個塑料別針和600條顏色各異的迷你橡皮筋。用這一套東西可以編織24個手環，圖案與友誼手環所用的傳統圖案類似，不過更加複雜，色彩也更豐富。
彩虹織機是吳昌俊（Cheong Choon Ng，音譯）的發明，他是一名華裔馬來西亞移民，有機械工程學本科學位。他在2010年萌發了製作彩虹織機的想法，並開始銷售這種套件，當時他是日產汽車公司(Nissan)的碰撞測試工程師。
過去一年裡，彩虹織機的人氣一路飆升，在YouTube上催生了數百個粉絲視頻和大量像朱莉婭這樣的所謂的兒童創業者。現在，吳昌俊正在管理一家迅速壯大的公司，他在位於密歇根州諾維的自家起居室里創建了這家公司。
一開始發明彩虹織機時，吳昌俊是為了打動他的女兒，她們是
現年15歲的特蕾莎(Teresa)和12歲的米歇爾(Michelle)。某個下午，女孩們在用小小的橡皮筋製作手環，當時，吳昌俊想加入到她們當中，
卻發現他的手指太大了。他設法製作了一個帶圖釘的木板，這個工具幫助他提高了靈巧性，不過，它太笨重了，沒法贏得女兒們的認可。
吳昌俊沒有放棄，他往工具里加入了一排排的圖釘。他說，「我裝了兩排、三排到四排的圖釘，把橡皮筋在上面繞來繞去，製作成大號的腕帶。」最終，女兒們被吸引住了，她們開始使用木板，為朋友和鄰居製作腕帶。
是特蕾莎後來建議她的父親設法製造並銷售織機的。他有着融產品設計、質量控制和生產經驗於一體的工程學背景，這給該項目提供了堅實的基礎，而且他的哥哥、居住在堪薩斯州威奇托的工程師兼發明家吳昌耀（Cheong Yeow Ng，音譯），也鼓勵他在網上銷售這種產品。
和許多新嘗試一樣，項目面臨的第一個挑戰是資金。吳昌俊說，「我們能投入的全部存款只有1萬美元。」
他得出結論，他的預算對美國工廠來說太少。於是，他開始考慮中國的工廠。他投入了5000美元，用於製作模板模具，又投入另外的5000美元，用於製作套件的部件。
2011年夏天，重達2000磅的橡皮筋被運抵他的家。吳昌俊下班回家後在夜裡組裝套件；他的妻子陳亭芬（Tyng Fen Chan，音譯）則在白天做。
彩虹織機的網上銷售不算太成功，起初他們試圖把織機放在大型玩具店銷售，也不了了之。部分原因在於，人們不知道如何使用這種新奇的玩具。為了培養潛在的顧客，吳昌俊和他的女兒在YouTube上張貼了指導視頻，他還購買了Google(谷歌)廣告做宣傳。
2012年夏天，吳昌俊轉運了。一家 「學習快車玩具」
(Learning Express
Toys)專賣店的老闆訂了24台彩虹織機，而且兩天後，她又打電話再次訂了貨。這個專賣連鎖店有130家店鋪。不久，其他的「學習快車玩具」店鋪也開始
進貨彩虹織機。原來，銷售這個產品的關鍵在於培訓買家如何使用它，專門的玩具和工藝品商店正是適合展示織機產品和培訓買家的地方。
加里和莫莉·菲茨帕特里克(Gary and Molly
Fitzpatrick)在俄亥俄州有兩家、密歇根州有一家「學習快車玩具」專賣店，彩虹織機已經成為了這些店鋪的福音。菲茨帕特里克說：「它佔了我們銷
售額的很大一部分。」在這個連鎖店的網站上，彩虹織機被列為2013年夏天最受歡迎的玩具之一。
吳昌俊最初請朋友和鄰居幫忙組裝產品，不過現在，這部分工
作已經轉移到了中國。吳昌俊去年秋天從日產公司辭職，現在他手下有12個人，他還在家附近租了一個7500平方英尺（約697平方米）的倉庫來處理分銷工
作。目前總共有600家零售商銷售彩虹織機，並且已經以15美元至17美元的零售價銷售了逾一百萬套。
彩虹織機在夏令營里很受歡迎，很多夏令營都禁止使用電子產
品。孩子們不僅用賣手環來代替賣檸檬水，而且還忙着在YouTube上張貼「教學」視頻。一個名為阿什利(Ashley)的用戶已經上傳了四個這樣的視
頻；其中人氣最高的一個視頻，是她解釋如何製作她所說的「星暴手環」，自8月1日以來已經吸引了約45萬人次的觀看量。官方的彩虹織機視頻已經獲得了總共
460萬人次的觀看量。
但是，和競爭激烈的市場中的任何新產品一樣，彩虹織機也面臨著挑戰，其中包括兒童玩具流行度下降的趨勢。為了讓自己的品牌在市場上長盛不衰，吳昌俊把注意力集中在了創新上。
「我正在研發新的工具，製作出更加讓人興奮的橡皮筋手環和手環圖樣，」他說，「我還在向配飾設計領域進軍。」
一些人已經在把彩虹織機跟幾年前在孩子中風靡一時的傻瓜皮
筋(Silly Bandz)橡皮筋相提並論。傻瓜皮筋公司的創始人已經把業務擴展到手錶和其他類型的珠寶上，並跟「憤怒的小鳥」(Angry
Birds)和「芭比」(Barbie)等品牌形成了合作夥伴關係，生產相關主題的手環。
比爾·奧萊特(Bill
Aulet)說，一旦彩虹織機引來模仿者，阻止它們的關鍵就在於彩虹織機要擁有沒有人可以複製的「秘密武器」。他是馬丁·特拉斯特麻省理工創業中心下的
(Martin Trust Center for M.I.T.
Entrepreneurship)的總經理，也是麻省理工學院斯隆管理學院(M.I.T. Sloan School of
Management)的高級講師。彩虹織機的秘密武器，可能就是熱情高漲的愛好者群體。
「如果圍繞這個產品形成完全的生態系統，而且盈利狀況很好，那麼很可能會有人想來收購它，」奧萊談到吳昌俊的公司時說。
除了這種可能性之外，奧萊還說，他認為該公司拓展業務需要外界的幫助。
「他需要某種形式的幫助，」奧萊說。「他需要強大的團隊，更多的資金，更多的專業知識，以及合伙人。隨着他的業務在全國範圍內拓展，經營的複雜性也將呈幾何級數增加。這是一個全新的遊戲。」
翻譯：張薇、土土
沒有留言:
張貼留言