But as seen from the dismal toy sales the previous year, toymakers are not so optimistic about the sales this year. So what are they going to do to counterattack these diminishes in the sales of toys?
The answer is to rethink designs and inventory strategies.
As John Frascotti, the Chief Executive Officer of Hasbro mentioned, "The consumers are looking more towards the value of the toys, getting great value for your money. Also, they look for brands that they trust."
As we can see from the products of Crayons, Martel, Toy "R" Us, Disney toys and many other toymakers, they are using alot lesser of technological bells and whistles. Reason being, they simply have to cut the costs of these toys by a mile. Come to think of it, if you expect a toy to be priced low, you cannot expect the fanatical technology to be incorporated into these toys because they cost a bomb. To get a toy for $20 or so, you will merely get innovative toys that entice kids and thats the end of the story.
In my opinion, I will definitely not pay more than $50 for a toy, I mean it's merely a toy, something that will only espouse the kids' attention for a couple of weeks and then they get bored of it. Let's get real now, kids are evolving just like us, their attention span are shorter and they, too, demand alot more out of toys today, rather than looking out for quality, it might be worth investing in quantities to constantly gratify their needs.
In addition, as the CEO of Disney Toys mentioned, they have to lias with the licensee because of the forseen shortages in inventories in the upcoming season. Well, I concur with her, today, people are overly cynical about the sales of products. Even consumer products production are at an all time low, people dare not import because they cannot afford cash flow out of the country anymore. They all are suffering and peopel are playing the conservative game right now. Therefore, they key challenge here is to only product in mass, the toys that are hot in demand in the market, but this requires extremely close co-operation between the manufacturer and the company. Their relationship has to be sturdy and efficient, nothing can screw up in communications and trust level must be high. This is because if the toymakers do not trust the manufacturers, they will take orders elsewhere and by the time the company needs more production, the manufacturer won't have the time to manufacture these toys because they already have taken up orders elsewhere. So the key here is to have a reliable manufacturer that always stand by you at all times.
Well, I sure do hope the toy industries stay because I love those cute little toys out there. Hopefully, there will be greater innovation along the way.
Credits -smartcanucks, -traveldaysinn, -techtalkforfamilies, -itsfabry
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