The Manbo Toys Ltd.

Top guns for splashing endless water gun

Summer is the hottest season of the year. And with school vacation in full swing, it is also the time when the young ones are most in need of some cool fun. How about the water gun battles?

Having his sight set on this niche toy market, Mr. Ken Wong, owner of Hong Kong-based The Manbo Toys Ltd., revealed to MegAsia that his exceptional passion for water guns played a part in his decision to start up his company in 1999. "I set out to provide that real fun playthings for children during the scorching summer months, and water guns have today somehow become Manbo's key specialisation," says Mr. Wong.

"Manbo is a relatively young company, but we already have over 1,000 different water guns available! I dare to say that we have established ourselves as one of the top suppliers in this field," Mr. Wong continues proudly.

Under every water gun design comes a number of different sizes (ranging from just a few to 32 inches long) for the clients to choose from, thus catering the diverse needs of the end users – the kids.

"Today's children want toys that are relatively light and long-lasting. Since water is quite heavy, we only use plastic to produce our guns, making sure we do not put excessive weight on the kids. Furthermore, the plastic material is inexpensive, durable and waterproof, so our guns become the children's best companions on the water battlefield," explains Mr. Wong.

Innovation is all-important for toys of all kinds. The ever-changing market trends keep Manbo spinning new product ideas. Mr. Wong culls his many inspirations from hit movies and computer games. "These days, the youngsters are pretty obsessed by the images and fads on the media. And they will love these images that we emulate into our water guns," says Mr. Wong, citing Manbo's sci-fi movies inspired space-themed models as examples.

Another creative hot pick at Manbo is the water guns built with special shields. "I think that an added feature to guard the kids from being ‘shot' would be so much fun, so we started "building-in" tiny umbrellas for the guns at first. Then, we changed that to a plastic shield to give a more realistic feel of a battle. The shields have added fun to lure the children to the water gun play. This range of water guns has proven to be a success," Mr. Wong recalls.

More extra elements are being incorporated in the water guns to render the gamers added excitement. Manbo recently introduced a brand new range of enriched versions to the market. When the trigger is pulled, not only will water shoot out, but the guns also make loud noises, like a siren or gun shots. These make the water gun "battles" even more realistic.

"Of course, we understand that the beach makes a perfect water gun battlefield. That gave me the idea to expand our business into beach playthings and accessories. From water and sand buckets to shovels and other gadgets that are suitable for a day at the beach, these accessories complement our water guns business really well."

Besides branching out into beach products, Manbo also specialises in manufacturing smaller mini-guns for use as promotional items. "We have produced a number of smaller water guns (between three to five inches long) as premiums for confectionery companies and eateries. Our smaller water guns are even included as gifts for toy magazines and tooth pastes," Mr. Wong elaborates.

"The feedback from our clients has been so amazing, proving my belief that water guns are excellent and inexpensive items as promotional premium."

Currently, Manbo exports about 60% of its water guns to Europe, while the Central and South American nations like Argentina, Brazil and Chile account for about 20% of the toy maker's output. The remaining 20% of orders come from well-developed Asian countries and territories, like Japan and Korea.

Mr. Wong told MegAsia that while water guns are Manbo's main staple, accounting for almost two-thirds of the supplier's yearly business, the company is also getting very active in the model toy cars market. Manbo began producing model cars at the turn of the millennium as a strategic move to diversify its business base by crossing over to the so-called "boys' toys" market.

"The main difference is that our water guns are all made of plastic, but a few other elements like metals and electronic components are incorporated in our model cars," explains Mr. Wong.

To date, Manbo has already released over 600 types of model cars into the market, including four-wheel drives and jeeps, delivery trucks, fire engines and police cars, etc. which are as large as 8:1 or even in 6:1 scales. "Moreover, we have a variety of different model cars for our clients to choose from, including friction, wind-up, battery-operated and even radio-control ones."

"The jeeps and four-wheel drives ranges are by far the most popular model cars in our catalogue at the moment, but we have yet to fully explore the race cars market," Mr. Wong elaborates.

Half of Manbo's clients for its model cars are from European countries, like France and Spain, but there is an increasing number of orders from South America.

"Quality control is an utmost commitment at Manbo. We work on stringent internal quality control measures at each step of production to ensure the highest product quality. We welcome customers to make factory visits to our Mainland China-based production plants to see how we meet their standards," Mr. Wong stresses.