The business trend in the toy industry
The current trend in the toy industry is changing quite rapidly and the industry is growing at a robust rate. The purpose of this memo is to explain the changing trends of the industry and how this industry has progressed through different phases. New trends which include cyber concept, linking the toy industry with the gaming industry, and certain advertising trends of this industry are discussed in this memo.
The linkage of toys with the internet is considered to be the rising trend of today’s world and this trend actually initiated from the Asian region. The demands of toys are increasing and children are more attracted by the electronic components of toys and they love to buy those toys which are technologically enriched. Children of the current era are technologically savvy which is why they are more attracted to toys whose software is available on the internet. The internet link of these toys allows children to keep in touch with the toys and they can share their feelings about that toy on the internet.
The manufactures of the toys and the major players of the industry are not increasing their product lines and they are focusing on their basic toys. Similarly, green and organic toys are expanding in the toy industry and children are buying more and more green toys. Repackaging of toys is quite common in this industry and manufacturers are lowering their costs by repackaging the toys. The financial strength of the industry is dipping down and the bigger players in the market are suffering because of lower sales in the industry. The toy industry is also focusing on the special needs of customers and the growth of the special needs community is noticed by the toy industry. The parents of these children would feel a sigh of relief if the marketers are going to market the toys for the special children. Major players in the industry are introducing budget toys for children because of the recent economic crises. These budget toys are strongly linked with the classic toys which include remote-controlled cars and toy guns. Similarly, movie-oriented toys are increasing in the current scenario, and toys like iron man, superman, and batman are loved by children. The producers of these products develop these toys with a proper license and they are properly marketed to the respective target market. Children are very much attracted by the action figures and the sales of these movie toys are increasing. The sales of this industry depicts that the trends of toys are decreasing, the sales figures of 2007 were $22.3 billion and it declined to $21.7 billion in 2008 (TIA, 2009).
This topic of business trend in the toy industry is quite wide and varied and it’s quite an open topic. The topic is open to research and the industry trends depict that due to the recent economic recession people are not buying expensive toys and manufactures are only developing expensive toys for a specific target market. However, children are shifting towards classic toys.
If any one of you has any specific recommendations regarding this topic please let me know I will appreciate this. The topic is open for feedback.
References
- Retrieved April 29, 2009, from info.hktdc.com: http://info.hktdc.com/tdcnews/0001/00011601.htm
- Retrieved April 29, 2009, from www.toyassociation.org: http://www.toyassociation.org/AM/Template.cfm Section=Industry_Statistics&TEMPLATE=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=3887
