LeapFrog Enterprises designs and markets educational products that incorporate technology and proprietary content to create innovative, engaging learning experiences for kids of all ages. Part of LeapFrog’s success is its thorough understanding of the competitive toys marketplace and its own position within the educational toys niche. LeapFrog Enterprises Vice President, Marketing Research, Craig Spitzer, Ph.D., recently told us he believes NPD information and insights are critical to evaluating and improving market share.

“In business school, they tell you if your market share is high, do this. If it’s low, do that. They don’t tell you how to know your market share,” Spitzer explained. “Without NPD, we in the toy industry would not know our market shares. At best, each company would do its own, financially compromised and probably flawed work. There would be a cacophony of conflicting numbers presented to Wall Street and the trade. With NPD’s data of record – the best data any of us can get – we can all manage our businesses more intelligently and work within a common framework as we talk with retailers and investors.”

When NPD information helped LeapFrog determine “business was booming with products for three-to six-year-olds,” but sales among older children were dropping, the company knew it had to take action. “Discovering this trend led us to examine technologies and products that might bring older children back into our category. It was one impetus in the development of our new Fly Pentop Computer, a product designed to bring educational support, productivity and fun to eight- to 13-year-olds,” Spitzer said.

NPD information is used across LeapFrog Enterprises to address a wide range of business issues. “Our top executives use NPD information to decide what brands and categories to invest in for future growth. The marketing groups use it to confirm the efficacy of their actions and to keep abreast of new competitive threats. Everyone from Finance to R&D to Engineering has come to me with questions I can use the NPD data to answer,” Spitzer said. He cited these examples of specific questions NPD data has helped LeapFrog answer: Should my toy be targeted to a four-year-old or a seven-year-old? Should LeapFrog advertise to mothers or kids? Is this an impulse item that should be marketed via in-store displays or is this a planned purchase requiring TV to drive consumer interest?

“I have been an NPD client for over 25 years. NPD has always supported my industry, my companies, and me,” Spitzer said. “NPD data means we don’t have to manage our business in the dark, unaware of how our work fits in and competes with the many others making products in our space.”

He continued, “Because of NPD information, we are savvier and make smarter decisions, which makes LeapFrog Enterprises more competitive and more profitable.”