Article
2004 Down Market
by Darren Pierce : Radar, Radar! : 02.10.05 11:46am EST
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The Yano Research Institute published their 2005 Toy Industry white paper Wednesday. The white paper's summary cited an overall 5.3% market decrease from FY 2002 to 2003, with a similar drop expected to carry through to 2004.
While Bandai anticipated and was able to deal with this downturn, even doubling dividends this quarter, Takara and Tomy have missed estimates and are having to deal with shareholder heat as a result. Of key interest is the relative stability of staple products. The down trend is largely attributed to the lack of any recent mega-hit products proven to grow sales cross-industry in the past.
Lest you think the slide only applies to traditional toys, the study includes consumer purchasable video games, including console, PC, and heldheld games. However, portable application (cell phone) and online games were two of the three segments that actually grew in the study period -- capsule toys being the third. Speaking of games, so called "analog games" were up -- the dice and tokens crowd were pleased to find fare that could be enjoyed by the whole family.
The recent explosion in candy toys may have finally plateaued. Sales were flat in 2004, although character related candy goods were slightly higher than normal. As staple products remained strong across the board, consumer and industry consciousness of brand and character were dominant themes throughout the year. The report concludes that while smash hits haven't been on the radar in years, good branding brings home the bacon for the time being.
While Bandai anticipated and was able to deal with this downturn, even doubling dividends this quarter, Takara and Tomy have missed estimates and are having to deal with shareholder heat as a result. Of key interest is the relative stability of staple products. The down trend is largely attributed to the lack of any recent mega-hit products proven to grow sales cross-industry in the past.
Lest you think the slide only applies to traditional toys, the study includes consumer purchasable video games, including console, PC, and heldheld games. However, portable application (cell phone) and online games were two of the three segments that actually grew in the study period -- capsule toys being the third. Speaking of games, so called "analog games" were up -- the dice and tokens crowd were pleased to find fare that could be enjoyed by the whole family.
The recent explosion in candy toys may have finally plateaued. Sales were flat in 2004, although character related candy goods were slightly higher than normal. As staple products remained strong across the board, consumer and industry consciousness of brand and character were dominant themes throughout the year. The report concludes that while smash hits haven't been on the radar in years, good branding brings home the bacon for the time being.