Barbie stars internationally but lags at home

Last weeks financial report from Mattel continues to interest me.  The Wall Street Journal in an article entitled “Mattel Profits despite Barbie,” stated that “Barbie-brand sales in the U.S. dropped 12% in the quarter and 15% in the year, which Chief Executive Robert Eckert described as "disappointing" in a conference call with analysts. The fourth-quarter decline, which included holiday-season sales, shows that Mattel’s moves to leverage the Barbie name into new arenas like social networking and fashion haven’t fully kicked in domestically. On the plus side, overseas Barbie sales rose 13%.”

Think about it, that’s a 25% swing between Barbie sales in the US and the rest of the world.  Though some of the difference could be accounted for by Barbie penetrating some new markets overseas, I see this as strong evidence that while we work in a global economy and while a global culture continues to evolve; there are still strong differences between countries in consumer buying patterns.  Anyone attempting to be a global player needs to keep this in mind.