How’s the “mid-term exam” for toy retailing in the past half year of 2008? Recently, TOY INDUSTRY delivers its survey on Hot Toys of the 2nd Qr., allying with iconic department stores and supermarkets in central municipalities in various regions. It is shown that, the impact on consumption from domestic high inflation has gradually emerged. Consumers tend to make their buying decision in a conservative way, resulting in an unsatisfied retailing market for the first half. Lots of retailers have changed their sales strategy, seeking a mix of mid- and high-grade product in all kinds of categories. By this means, the latest list for bestsellers is no longer dominated by big brands.

 

At mid July, National Bureau of Statistics released the economic data for the first half of the year, showing that, GDP has decelerated its growth against the same period of last year, while CPI and PPI are gearing up. It can be translated into the slowing down of Chinese economy and pressing inflation.

 

CPI has risen by 7.9 percent. It will directly affect toy retailing, since toys are not considered as necessities for life, otherwise than cereals, meat or vegetables. Consumers tend to be conservative obviously, refraining from buying toys. Known from some makers, I have found that, their achievement at the first half for this year were not as good as last year. Moreover, almost none of them had met excepted sales. Mr. Wu, director for the stationery and toy department for Shanghai The First Yaohan tell TOY INDUSTRY that, it would be a very tiring job to accomplish sales target. A marketing director of a certain famous brand also complained that, a Saturday in July, a counter in Shanghai New World Shopping World of his company only recorded 700 yuan for half a day.

 

Sci-top firstly enters the list, of which 3-channels R/C planes ranks third in Beijing Lufthansa Center. Zhu Li, manager of sales department said that, Sci-top is trying to expand its sales in department stores, and Beijing and the three Northeastern provinces are targets in the first round. A new branch in Beijing has been thus opened at the beginning of the year. However, since overall economic environment is comparatively slack and flying of R/C aircraft is restricted during the Olympic Games, market development of the company falls short of expectations. But the second half of the year, Sci-top will continue to enhance its brand influence.

 

Li Zhuoming, administrative vie president of Guangdong Toy Association (GDTA) believed that, besides the economic factors, disaster of sleet and earthquake this year also affect market growth adversely. The heavy sleet before Spring Festival hindered the traffic of toy companies, which were preparing stocks for the traditional midseason. Furthermore, the earthquake in May has changed many people’s consumptive psychology and custom. Kids and parents actively answered schools’ call, sparing their expense on toys for donation. In addition, growing operation cost for companies has forced retailing price for toys to rise, so both the market and consumers have to acclimatize themselves to such a trend.

 

When raw materials and cost keep soaring up, purchasing power shows a downtrend on the contrary, which cools down makers’ enthusiasm on launching new toys. We see lots of frequent faces in Hot Toys list this time. However, among the same category of toys, we see not only familiar power brand, but also multiple choices in mid- and high-grade products. For instance, R/C cars include Auldey, Huanqi, Xinqiang, LWDragon. Casio and Yongmei share the rank for electronic pianos. R/C aircrafts come from Silverlit, Sci-top and Double Horse.

 

The top one in the ranking of Guilin Weixiaotang Shopping Mall belongs to Haiyu’s swinging ring, a inglorious brand name. Li Wei, operator for Kids’ Department of the shopping mall attributes it to three highlights: seasonal product, reasonable price and good quality.

 

 

 

 

Parkson Retail Development Co, Ltd.				Shanghai The First Yaohan CO.,LTD
No.	Brand	Category		No.	Brand	Category
1	Hasbro	Transformers (8106083529)		1	Barbie	Barbie Mariposa , Barbie Totally Hair Color it!
2	Barbie	Barbie & Tanner		2	Silverlit	Die-cast cars
3	Silverlit	HoneyBee helicopter		3	Bandai	Power Rangers
4	Bandai	Hamburger Kitchen (20546)		4	Auldey	Peg-tops, Balala
5	Disney	Mickey Mouse		5	Lego	Construction kits
6	Dasheng	Pyramic magic toy		6	Bandai	Gundam model kits
7	Kaleeto	Die-cast cars		7	Hasbro	Transformers
8	LDCT	KeyBots (41736)		8	Lejia	Toy blocks, Hexahedral blocks
9	Readboy	Preschool learning system		9	Dasheng	Construction rods
10	Geomag	Panels 220		10	Smoby	Tool cars

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beijing Lufthansa Center (Youyi Shopping City)				Beijing Xin Zhong Guo Kid's Store
No.	Brand	Category		No.	Brand	Category
1	Lego	Construction kits		1	Goodbaby	Baby strollers
2	Graco	Kids’ seat		2	Alex	Magic toy dog
3	Sci-top	R/C aircrafts		3	Barbie	Barbie Mariposa
4	LDCT	Anime-related toys		4	Silverlit	HoneyBee helicopter
5	Barbie	Dolls		5	Dasheng	Magic gift box
6	Bandai	Model kits		6	Playwell	Disney infant toys
7	Fisher-Price	Infant toys		7	Hasbro	Transformers
8	Peg Perego	Infant articles		8	Kaleeto	Tomy die-cast cars
9	Haba	Wooden toys		9	Bandai	Power Rangers
10	Casio	Pianos		10	Star-Moon	Musical animal cars