For any child, Legos serve as an integral part of their growth and development. Whether it is their favorite princess or vehicle, Legos are a favorite amongst many toddlers and kids.
However, it should be noted that these lego toys are quite expensive to purchase. Hence, they often tend to end up as your child’s birthday or Christmas gift wish list.
The main question here is why Legos are so expensive? What makes them so special and unique that they have to be priced exorbitantly?
Given below are some of the top reasons why Legos are comparatively more expensive than any other types of toys available in the market.
Benefits Of Lego Toys
Playing with Lego toys has numerous benefits. Below are some of the benefits of Lego toys.
Firstly, they help children boost their fine motor skills. As children are required to build various structures using the Lego pieces, they have a great opportunity to be manipulative with their fingers.
This way, they can strengthen the muscles in their hands. As a result, they can do other tasks better, such as learning to hold a pencil and write.
Another advantage of using Legos is that they boost teamwork and social skills. With Legos, children can learn the rules for each role, as well as listen and respect each other.
This is highly beneficial during cooperative play. This teamwork boosts joint focus, encourages positive behavior, sharing, and social contact.
Reasons Why Legos Are Expensive
1. Detail To Accuracy
One of the major reasons why Legos are on the pricier side is their attention to detail. Each piece is manufactured with utmost accuracy and precise engineering.
To make a piece, high-quality molds are often employed. Each mold is designed with utmost accuracy. Each mold helps to shape the melted plastic granules into the signature Lego shape known today.
On the whole, Legos are expensive, as everything is given equal attention from the tiniest of details.
2. High-Quality Materials
As mentioned above, each Lego brick is manufactured with premium ingredients. Every Lego piece is composed of a thermoplastic body that is renowned for its durability and strength.
Furthermore, this plastic material is a petroleum product, which means that the prices of the raw material are directly proportional to the fluctuations in the price of crude oil.
On the whole, the Lego molds are designed to endure constant assembling and dismantling without losing their durability and functionality.
3. Cost Of Production
Another reason why Legos are quite expensive is that they tend to have high costs of production. In other words, manufacturing Legos is a time-consuming and capital-intensive process.
Firstly, trucks filled with plastic granules arrive at the famous Lego factories all across the globe. Then, giant pipes are employed to transport these granules to heavy-duty metal silos.
Did you know that there are a total of 14 silos, and each one can hold a maximum capacity of 33 tons of plastic granules?
Afterward, these plastic granules are moved down these pipes to the molding machines, where they are heated to a maximum temperature of 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Then this liquified plastic is fed into tiny metal containers that create the hollow shape of Legos.
As the entire manufacturing process is automated, the company has to replenish the machinery, which may add to the product’s total cost.
Therefore, as it involves immense amounts of capital, Legos are relatively more expensive than any other type of toy in the market.
4. Size Of Sets
Another aspect that plays a significant role in determining the price of a Lego set is the total number of pieces present in the set. In today’s modern world, a single Lego brick tends to cost approximately 10.4 cents.
With an increase in the number of pieces per set, the total value tends to rise, yielding such exorbitant prices.
5. Licensing Fee
If you are wondering why Legos are so expensive, then you should take into account the licensing fees of Lego.
With the advent of modern technology, Lego has collaborated with various other brands, such as Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Marvel, and much more. This results in licensing fees.
These licensing fees may contribute to the total cost paid by the consumer.
6. Import Fees
Depending on where you live, you may have to pay import fees on your Lego orders. This may add to the total cost, making it quite expensive for you to purchase.
7. Marketing
Another reason which contributes to the high prices of Lego sets is marketing.
Did you know Lego spends approximately 100 million dollars on marketing various products through multiple mediums, including print, television, as well as digital media?
This may add to the final cost, resulting in high prices by the brand.
8. Design
Lastly, Legos are quite expensive due to their design. Each brick is fabricated to suit the needs and requirements of the characters and the set.
As there are immense amounts of expenditure in the research and development of the product, the total cost may increase for the consumer.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it is quite understandable that Legos are expensive for multiple reasons.
The major chunk of the price chart is the production cost. With quality-assured ingredients and methods, Lego employs high production costs that make the end product expensive for a regular consumer.
Another feature is the marketing methods used by the firm to promote their range of products. These may include the distribution system, type of packaging, advertising, etc.
In addition, permissions from various authoritative bodies may also add to the final costs. For example, as Lego uses plastic to make its bricks, it may need to get permission from various bodies for the approval of manufacturing. This can add to the final cost.
Lastly, they are pretty expensive due to the immense amounts of time and effort dedicated to the product’s research and development.
To create a range of products for the consumer, Lego may spend more money on the R&D of the product to ensure its safety.
Overall, Lego toys may seem slightly on the higher end of the price scale but are worth every single cent as they speak volumes about quality, durability, joy, and variety.
Founder and a 36-year old mother of one who has gone through the usual problems of parenting herself and shares her own experiences through this blog. Ruby is a great writer who researches well before putting forth facts in the articles.