Toy Makers Seem to Be Playing It Safe : Retailing: Many products at the annual unveiling are new versions of proven sellers. Critics blame mergers for the lack of innovation.
A toy chest full of some 6,000 new products was introduced this week at the 87th annual American International Toy Fair in New York. But despite the quantity of new toys, some toy buyers said the offerings were short on imagination.
They complained that too many of the larger toy makers aren’t taking the kinds of risks needed to develop the coming year’s blockbuster. Many firms are touting new versions of proven sellers.
“There is a tendency in this industry to follow the herd,” said Barry J. Alperin, chief operating officer at Hasbro Inc.
Hasbro, of Pawtucket, R.I., said it expects continued success from its Cabbage Patch dolls and G.I. Joes, and Playmates Toys Inc. of La Mirada said it is adding figures to its popular Teen-age Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures.
Mattel Toys, headquartered in Hawthorne, announced additions to its Barbie line. Later this year, Barbie fans will be able to buy everything from a $400 doll house with a functional food processor to a $120 doll wearing a golden gown from fashion designer Bob Mackie.
“Every year she reflects the latest trend,” said Mattel spokesman Glenn Bozarth. “It’s that change every year that keeps the doll current.”
Some toy makers are banking on licensing agreements as tickets to financial rewards. Hasbro, the country’s biggest toy company, already announced its agreement with the pop music group New Kids on the Block. The quintet teeny-bopper sensation is spawning dolls, puzzles and other items.
Playmates, a unit of Hong Kong-based Playmates Holdings Ltd., has what is expected to be a lucrative license to market figures based on the “Dick Tracy” movie from Walt Disney Pictures starring Warren Beatty and Madonna. The film opens June 15.
Christopher Byrne, a contributing editor to Toy and Hobby World, an industry trade magazine, said: “I think a lot of people want to play it safe. I haven’t seen anything that’s really blown me away as far as creativity.”
Critics said the mergers of several major manufacturers in recent years, while making the companies more profitable and efficient, are in part responsible for what they see as the lack of innovation.
“It’s a business of bookkeepers today,” said Ronald Qualls, senior buyer for Karl’s Toys, which has 19 retail stores in Southern California. “If you go back 20 years you had innovators.”
Qualls said it is important for manufacturers to come up with innovative products to keep children interested. Hits such as Cabbage Patch dolls are essential for drawing customers into stores, even if retailers have to sell them at or below cost.
Some who perused the merchandise from 1,300 exhibitors said this year’s fair was an improvement over last year. Analysts are predicting as much as a 6% increase in toy sales this year over the $13.4 billion recorded in 1989.
Al Napolitano of Ryan’s Family Discount Center in Elmont, N.Y., said he was particularly impressed with a new line of dolls from Mattel called Magic Nursery. The dolls come dressed in paper gowns that dissolve in water to reveal a plastic package that contains more permanent clothing and identification of the doll’s sex.
According to Mattel, one out of every 36 dolls will come with notification that the doll has a twin. The young customer is then supposed to send in proof of the dual birth and the company will send another doll free. The firm also plans to release a limited number of dolls that are quintuplets.
Mattel hopes the gender mystery and possibility of having free siblings will create repeat buyers.
Mattel is not the only company introducing new dolls, sales of which increased 7.4% industrywide last year, according to the Toy Manufacturers of America.
Tyco Toys, for instance, has introduced My Pretty Ballerina, a battery-powered doll that performs on its toes and executes moves on one leg with the help of someone guiding its arm.
Hasbro plans to release Baby Uh-Oh in June. The doll wets its diaper and even develops diaper rash.
“It should be a winner,” said toy store owner Lindsay Muirhead. “It’s true to life. They all like being mums.”
But while toy buyers can make educated guesses at what will be the coming year’s hottest sellers, there is really no precise way of predicting what will enthrall youngsters.
“Really,” Qualls said, “it’s at the whim of a 6-year-old kid whether you’re right or wrong.”
