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It's all Fun and Games....
Author: wickedpam    Date: 02/20/2009 13:11:15

Well, hopefully no one is losing an eye, but I thought I would use today’s blog to focus on the lighter things in the world or just our corner of it.

This past week the 2009 American International Toy Fair has been held in New York. Not really big news, they’ve done it 106 times before, but I find some of the trends come out of it rather interesting. First off, despite everyone going through tough economic time’s people, kids and adults, like their toys and while they would like to not spend a lot for them they still want to play.

Playthings.com
One former sales rep at tonight’s ASTRA party at FAO Schwarz called it “a normal Toy Fair”—in and of itself a noteworthy achievement considering the run-up to the show has been anything but normal amid global economic troubles and months of bureaucratic wrangling that looked like there might be nothing to actually show at this year’s show.

Walking the show floor today wasn’t nearly the doom-laden gloom fest some predicted. Generally, exhibitors were feeling fairly upbeat to have come out of 2008 still in one piece and when asked, were nearly unanimous in reporting better than expected business in January. And while the days of jam packed tradeshows look more and more to be a thing of the past, at least for a while today Toy Fair looked like a place people wanted to be, with aisles busy enough to keep most exhibitors content and nothing particularly vexing for people whine about.


It also helps that toy makers are heading the call and lower prices.

CBS News
This year, "Across the board, all the manufacturers seem really aware that people have a little less to spend," says Hartshorn. Some toy lines have even come down in price. For example, Hasbro's Fur Real line is now making mini versions of its toys to make them more affordable.


Wired.com
The first few vendors told me they were concentrating on product around $10-15 because of the economic troubles, so I started a quick and totally unscientific poll of the vendors. When asked what they thought of the economy and if they were doing anything differently, most of them said that the less expensive items were selling very well and a few companies even mentioned delaying the launch of more high priced toys. Almost everyone said the fair was better this year than last with an increase in sales and traffic. Not surpisingly the ones that said this year was worse, were also the ones who kept reading their blackberry for a minute or two after I stepped in their booth.


There are lots of trends that come out of the toy fair every year and this one is now different with eco-toys, US Games marketing all things Obama (you knew someone was going to do it), new educational games and toys, new latest dolls, figurines or action figures that tie in with a movie coming up and so on.

One trend I kinda find interesting is the resergence of board games.

Bloomberg.com
U.S. board-game sales rose 6 percent to $794 million last year, while total toy sales declined 3 percent, according to researcher NPD Group Inc. Game sales have risen since last summer, when dwindling disposable income made the “staycation” a popular alternative to holiday travel, according to Reyne Rice, a consultant at the Toy Industry Association Inc. in New York.

“When you buy a $20 game, it can last,” Rice said in an interview. “You can pull it out year after year.”


I like that people are feeling upbeat, makes me and I think others feel like maybe, just maybe we’re gonna get through this and it’s gonna be okay. Granted one of tthe articles does say there hasn’t been huge news of mergers or new big name license, maybe people don’t want to quite take a leap that big, but still we’re holding on and finding some solid footing.

Well that’s just me pointing out one of the shiney rays of light breaking the cloud cover.

 

73 comments (Latest Comment: 02/21/2009 05:09:54 by clintster)
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