Backwards Glance
The evolution for the toy business from a personal perspective
-- Gifts and Dec, 4/1/2010 12:00:00 AM
Someone asked me recently what the biggest differences are between the toy business of today and what it had been way back in 1994 when I first set foot in this magazine's endearingly old-fashioned offices to set about learning the ins and outs of the toy industry. It's been an interesting decade and a half since then, and in thinking about the changes I've witnessed, a few developments come most readily to mind:
• Licensing. On the merchandise end of the spectrum, I've been struck by the degree to which toy licensing has fallen as a percentage of overall sales. It was gospel in the mid-'90s that licensed toys made up at least 40 percent of the market—sometimes as much as 50 percent. The last figure I saw from NPD, though, had licensed toys' share of market down to about 25 percent. That's ironic since the perception continues to exist, especially among consumers, that the nation's toy aisles are full of nothing but licensed toys. Part of the change may be related to consolidation of licensees through wide-ranging master toy deals that today find the likes of Hasbro or Mattel having enough breadth of manufacturing to market something from every conceivable toy category from under one roof. Fifteen years ago, deals would have been split among several toy companies.
• Retail. This is probably the area of the business that's seen the biggest change. In 1994, several specialty toy store chains—a new and radical concept for a market segment that always stressed the personal touch over large-scale commerce—were in their ascendancy. Today, the chains are gone, having all flown too close to the sun, but their impact, I'd argue, remains in that they exposed many more people to higher-end and/or higher-purpose playthings than smaller independent toy shops could ever hope to do. I believe today's independent retailers continue to benefit from the exposure chains like Learningsmith, Noodle Kidoodle and Zany Brainy gave to specialty toys.
• Shows. Toy Fair's a much different experience since the loss of the Toy Building. I certainly don't miss the back and forth between showrooms and the Javits Center, but some of the show's mystique vanished once the camaraderie-building quirks of 200 Fifth Ave. were no longer part of the Toy Fair experience. And last year's Licensing Show in Las Vegas was similarly missing something for having left Manhattan. (Yet, it's amazing to think that my first Licensing Show took place in all of two ballrooms in the New York Hilton.)
Times have certainly changed. And they're changing here as well. Last month, this and several other Reed Business Information publications were sold to Sandow Media. The result? The publication will keep doing what it does, but from offices in Greensboro, N.C. Unfortunately, I won't be making the trip south along with it, but I trust its future will be in good hands and that it will prosper there for another 107 years. It's been a privilege to have played a part in that history, and wish the magazine and all of you the best of luck in the future. —Cliff Annicelli, Editor-in-Chief
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NPD: 2009's toy sales slipped 0.8 percent
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