The toy company Lego is working intensely on a multiplayer online game or MMO. The game is launched in 2009. Children all over the world can now play with Lego bricks across boundaries.

The game is called Lego Universe and it’s said to be part World of Warcraft and part playing with toys. Virtual Lego bricks here we come.

You control a classic Lego figure, your avatar, that develops his or her skills as you play.

Lego Universe is built like a just like a classic MMO with missions, that earns you money and bricks, but the social and creative part of the game is what drives it forward. You will be rewarded extra for solving missions creatively.

The target group is boys from ages 8 to 12, but Lego is hoping on users from all ages.

Lego currently have 90 people working on the Universe project. The game is developed by Denver-based Netdevil.

30 children are testing missions, features and functions every week.

Black Digits

Since Lego’s missteps a few years ago, the company is now back on track and making money again. The recent drop in Second Life’s popularity isn’t scaring Lego. They have a strong brand and hope that the game’s creative angle will make them some money.

Since the Lego brand will be all over the game, we can expect quality, but probably also an expensive video game.

Targeting The Parents

If Lego wants to succeed, this has to be a quality game with great gameplay, sound and graphics. It should be launched around Christmas and they must market the game correctly. Previous Multiplayer Online Games show that quality isn’t enough, if you want to succeed.

There is no doubt that Lego will target their marketing campaign toward the parents. They (we) are the “gatekeepers” and decide what game our children can play, which online community they are allowed to visit and we pay the bills.

Lego is a very trusted brand, but can they convert this to an online game? Lego isn’t very experienced in the online world.

Do you think Lego Universe will be a success? Why or why not?

Click here to read more about Lego Universe.

Do the candy at the supermarket register tempt you? Or perhaps you buy one of those cheap on-sale dvds’  on your way to the register?

Perhaps you are one of the many impulse shoppers that daily keep the online stores alive.

I know impulse shopping it alive in our home. My wife is on maternity leave, so it comes very easy to her. One of her favourite stores, trendybaby.dk, asked their 346 most loyal customers about impulse shopping. 39% of the users are “victims” of impulse shopping.

So why are people impulse shopping on the internet? You can browse the store, but you can’t feel the item or get a sense of it’s quality. Perhaps it’s not the right size for your?

What are the online stores doing to deal with these challenges?

I’ve seen a lot of successful online stores that asks their customers what they want. Dialog is a great way to uncover the needs of your customers.

From time to time my wife gets invited to join their customer panel. It’s a brilliant concept. For a few hundred dollars the store will know exactly what their customers want.

One of the recent panel results show that 37% of the customers, went straight to the store right after they received one newsletter. The analysis also showed that only 1% went to the store after seeing a banner ad or other kind of online advertising.

If an online stores want to succeed, they have to give their customers some kind of experience when they do their online shopping. We aren’t interested in static and boring online shops. Take a look the Lego Online Store. Lego has managed to make the gap between the real world Lego store and online store as small as possible, without ruining it with too many complex options.

I can refer to the post I wrote the other day about online advertising, if you want to succeed you have to use your customer. Let the customer test your product before you put it in your store. Let them tell you what kind of colour, model or product they like. We all like free stuff and it’s an easy way to promote your products.

Amazon.com is probably the best example of a store that knows the concept of impulse shopping.

Do you know other stores?

Do you impulse shop? Are you a part of a customer panel?