Posted by jim on November 22, 2008 under Consumer Experience, Toy Trends | 
The National Retail Federation released their 2008 top ten toys list for boys and girls Wednesday, and Hannah Montana is up four spots this year to number 2. While Barbie has kept her top spot, Hannah Montana is still on the rise.
We are featuring a few different Hannah Montana toys this year. From JAKKS Pacific, we have two items: the Hannah Montana Holiday Singing Doll (who doesn’t wanna hear Miley Cyrus sing “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree over and over?) and the Hannah Montana Pop Tour Guitar Video Game (with the popularity of Guitar Hero, why not?). We also have the Hannah Montana Girl Talk game from Hasbro, which incidentily is Made in America, on sale at 20% off for only $11.99.
Hannah Montana for Leapfrog Didj
Also, we have the Hannah Montana game for the LeapFrog Didj.
The number one toy in the Boys category for the National Retail Federation is Video Games. We are featuring the LeapFrog Didj this year and hoping that parents will look for a learning alternative when they are filling this wish for kids this year. LeapFrog has made great strides with this handheld gaming system. It has superior graphics, more arcade-like playability, and the unique ability to customize game play and learning skills.
Posted by jim on November 13, 2008 under Consumer Experience, Toy Trends |
We just finished our toy sale from November 2-4 to raise money for the local chapter of Youth for Christ. For an Internet toy retailer like us, not only are these sales great to help raise money for local charities – they also provide a unique opportunity for us to interact with our customers face to face.
I learned a few things – or possibly was just reminded of them – as I wandered the sales floor and spoke with customers. For one thing, Melissa and Doug products really sell when they can be touched and seen up close. They really capture the imagination. I remember seeing their new lines two years ago in NYC at Toy Fair and getting excited about them. Unfortunately, the Internet has become somewhat saturated with their product. In person though, it is an easy sale. What I did not realize was that people still love stuffed animals – and the bigger the better. The Melissa and Doug plushes ranging from dogs to dinosaur, from $20 to $100, were a huge hit and some major eye candy at the YFC boutique.
Next, I was very encouraged by the response to the Leapfrog Tag. If you haven’t seen it in person or watched it in action, take a look at this clip from the Leapfrog YouTube Channel. I will be shocked if this doesn’t make the Top 5 toy list this year.
Learning How to Play Hot Spot
Another manufacturer whose product has become a bit saturated on the net is ThinkFun. Formerly Binary Arts, ThinkFun hit it big years ago with Spin-Out and then Rush Hour. This year we had a great time showing folks how to play my newer favorites: Hot Spot and Pete’s Pike. And they sold as a result.
Finally, books always sell pretty well at these type of events. This year we are featuring We Both Read books by Treasure Bay. These are innovative books for children and parents to read together. The left page is read by the parents, the right by the child (which is written based on the respective grade level.
But the best part of the whole 3 day event was getting to speak, face to face with consumers and tell them why we bought certain product, show them how to enjoy the games we’ve chosen and really just to connect on a personal and emotional level.
If you would like to learn more about Youth for Christ, please visit the national chapter’s web site at www.yfc.org or our local chapter at www.cdyfc.org.
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Posted by jim on September 11, 2008 under Toy Trends |
It appears our Christmas catalog is just about set for this year. I have to admit, it was a bit of a struggle to put together, but I am really pleased how it is coming out. We went with an eight page format: cover with a few select items (Bakugan and Groovy Girls RSVP among them), page 2 Boys, Page 3 Girls, Page 4 and 5 are for LeapFrog, 6 is Infants and Toddlers, 7 is Games (and a few books and CDs) and the back cover is plush toys.
Gile Toys 2008 Christmas Catalog
One of my big challenges this year was placing our Hasbro order. As a specialty toy store owner, I have come to believe that it is important to carry some mainstream items and brands. While most specialty toy stores stay away from such items, I give in to the fact that some kids want Transformers this year. And how can you have a toy store that appeals to girls without anything from Hannah Montana?
We usually carry a lot of Hasbro board games, but had to choose not to this year. For some reason, many of the Hasbro games are being sold well below market value already this season. We can’t put them in the catalog, in fear of losing credibility. We are printing up 20,000 this year and do not want to be stuck with an item that appears non-competitive in our catalog. The consumer usually has no concept of what an item costs us – nor should they. So, we just can’t take the chance. Furthermore, I don’t want to be stuck with a couple of pallets of games I can’t sell above our own cost – we’ve been through that before with Monopoly Here and Now – the 2006 release.
The good news is Hasbro toy assortments like VIPs, Transformers, Might Muggs, Star Wars action figures, etc. do very well. Assortments work for us because it is not usually very easy to find the most popular items in local stores. For instance, a Transformers assortment may only include 1 Bumblebee (the most popular Movie Deluxe Transformer last year) in 8. These are the first to sell in the local retail store. We have a large warehouse space to store many assortments and can make that same Bumblebee more available to the Gile Toys customer.
So, if you are looking for that unique plush or action figure this Christmas and all you can find is a bunch of Chewbaccas that nobody wants, look to the on-line, independent toy store. It is most likely your best chance to find that Bakugan your nephew can’t live without.
