girlscollectables
purchasing habits are “forever changing” and that consistent updates to ranges must be made in line with trends, such as the integration of more advanced technology into the dolls themselves. She said: “Last year our Baby Born doll was further developed to include an interactive function which triggers sound effects and lights when held in close contact with her cabriolet car, horse, potty and bath. However, large dolls will absolutely continue to be nurture-play orientated, but innovative and interactive features will play a significant role in ensuring the market keeps up with the other categories.” Nurturing doll play continues to remain a core part
of any young child’s development, and with the right range of dolls and accessories, children can have hours of fun developing their nurturing, loving, caring and sharing skills when looking after a doll. It also proves a popular category for gift givers throughout the year and therefore can help drive growth in the traditionally quieter times of the year at retail. Alison Hubbard said: “Nenuco’s launch range is tightly focused to offer dolls for different play patterns, appealing to different ages and across different price points, but the challenge is to have enough of the range selected to create a strong brand presence in store and provide the breadth of choice that the consumer is looking for.” Marian concurred saying that it is important that retailers stock “not only the dolls but a wide range of accessories and fashions to expand the play value. Investing in solid merchandising support is also essential to create a strong brand statement, as well as in-store promotions and events.”
All about fashion On the other side of the coin are fashion dolls, a category which saw a massive 20% increase from 2011 to 2012. Typically following influences from the latest fashion trends, music and new technology, including augmented reality and online platforms, fashion dolls move into 2013 as a stalwart category in the Girls Toys market sector. In particular, the influence of online games and social media will no doubt shape new products, but traditional themes that capture imaginations will still prevail, such as hair and beauty, friendship, music and sport. Wendy Hill said that fashion dolls have always been Mattel heartland, and that the company continues “to bring innovation, not only to the Barbie brand, but also with new introductions. Monster High launched only three years ago and is already the number two fashion doll YTD according to the NPD stats. The franchise has bought a fresh new energy to the sector and is helping to drive the market, bringing an exciting new dynamic to the category and attracting an older age girl in fashion doll play.” Wendy noted that technological advances will continue to drive the fashion dolls sector in 2013, saying that every season sees the introduction of a new piece of technology into the traditional doll play pattern. She said: “This year will see the launch of Barbie Digital Dress and the Barbie Digital Makeover Mirror, both full of great technological features that allow girls to customise and create cool new looks. Fashion dolls are a core play pattern for girls and therefore something that mums look for; it’s a dynamic category that creates consumer demand and excitement, and is a key driver that helps to draw girls and mums into shops.” But there’s certainly a challenge for manufacturers to keep up with changing trends and continue to create
32 Toyworld
products that are edgy and unconventional, and still strongly resonate with girls in terms of lifestyle. Marian said: “Our new Lala-Oopsies dolls are most certainly unconventional, with their unusual appearance of bright colours and long bendy legs. The dolls help stimulate the child’s imagination with their magical back stories and whimsical look. The market is extremely competitive, and the launch of Bratzlillaz and Novi Stars has helped to rejuvinate the category.” The challenge is then passed on to the retailers who need to negotiate the landscape of the extensive variety available to stock. Wendy said that it’s important that an “extensive range is available that caters to the very young girls just starting out with fashion dolls, who can play with Disney Princess, right up to the older aged girls playing with Monster High. This will give retailers the opportunity to present a wide range of choice and a strong consumer offering in-store for girls and mums to consider.” Marian Davis added that the collectable nature of fashion dolls is another important part of the sector and that retailers can maximise sales through stocking a broad range of characters offered within each brand. She added: “Investing in solid merchandising support is also essential, as well as in-store promotions and events. For example character visits, such as the ones featuring our Lalaloopsy characters are a great way of building excitement in the store.”
The rise of the collectable As discussed earlier in the article, the Collectable Trading Toys and Accessories category has seen a massive rise in value, and the market as a whole is witnessing a continued narrowing of the gap between girls and boys toys. Bhav Patel, of the independent retailer Toy Galaxy, commented that, for the retailers, the past year has seen a huge increase in the sales and demand of girls collectables, and he believes it won’t be too long before they reach the same level as boys collectables; he said: “Collectables have predominantly been focused towards boys, but with a large girl market with little product offering, a lot of companies are adapting, building or creating ranges which can allow them to enter products into the collectables market. The girls collectables ranges that sell well for us in particular are Playmobil figures range, Littlest Pet Shop, My Little Pony, as well as the Lego Friends range.” From Neil
Bandtock’s point of view, collectables are what drive the toy industry at the moment. “Low price points feed the collector impulse. Couple that with cuteness, a 60 million user-strong online world, and you can see why Moshi does so well. But, had the circumstances been any different it would have been
incredibly tough to break into the collectables market without a strong brand and an awful lot of promotion. Moshi came along at the right time; since Polly Pocket and other girls collectables began to decline there was a gap, and Moshi filled it well.” As it happens, the market is now rife with collectables, and there’s lots of competition. However, Neil is positive that Moshi will continue to prove popular with girls. He said: “Our sales split is around 60% girls to 40% boys. I think it’s the fact that Moshi is cute, and has a strong and open online presence that makes it appealing to girls.” The appearance of construction sets made specifically for girls, such as Mega’s Barbie range and Lego Friends, has added another facet to the Girls Collectables market sector. Mega Bloks Barbie, for instance, invites girls to build, design and decorate their own Barbie world with compatible playsets and mini-fashion figures. By doing this it’s managed to engage girls in the building process by giving them everything they need to build, design and decorate their own take on the Barbie universe. Peter Fuller, European marketing manager at Mega Bloks, said: “By introducing construction play through Barbie, girls create an emotional connection to building, while completing the construction of a playset inspires a sense of confidence and accomplishment.” The fact is that research in child development has shown that children significantly benefit from playing with building blocks and toys delivering long-term benefits well beyond the playroom, so it’s only natural that construction toys for girls would appear. Collectibles are all about price points and pocket money prices, so this is also key in building the consumer offering. For retailers it’s about creating visibility and depth of range in store because an impulse purchase depends on access to the ranges and high visibility. But with recognisable brands such as Barbie, Lego Friends and Moshi all doing so well at retail, there are some very obvious choices out there for retailers. Bhav Patel said that he thinks the market place is “flooded” with collectables at the moment, but despite that flood, it’s easier now for retailers to select “just a handful, and do really well with them”. Over the following pages is a selection of the
products available from some of the companies in the Girls Toys market.
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