Toy Story 2012: Hot items expected to sell out early
The LEGO Friends Advent Calendar is part of the LEGO Friends line. Each day for the 24 days leading up to Christmas, kids can get one component to build a winter village. The kit includes accessories such as skis, a snowman, hot cocoa, pets, a Christmas tree, hair accessories for your minifigures and a horse and carriage. (Provided by Lego/MCT)
(Provided by Mattel/MCT)
Timetoplaymag.com editors say that the LeapPad2 Explorer education toy will be in high demand as a holiday gift this year. (Provided by LeapFrog/MCT)
Toys from the new "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" show on Nickelodeon are expected to be big this holiday season. The Deluxe Power Sond FX Figures say battle phrases with sound effects. (Provided by Playmates/MCT)
With the Little Tikes iTikes Canvas, kids can draw on the magnetic board and slide the lever to wipe it clean, but then turn it over and take out the magnetic board, insert your iPad, and you've got a whole new way to play. (Provided by Little Tikes/MCT)
Aggressive layaway programs by retailers, combined with conservative ordering by store chains trying to keep inventories tight, are expected to increase the number of sold-out toys during the coming holiday season, toy industry experts predicted recently at an annual holiday toy showcase in Manhattan.
That prediction could mean a good Christmas for Wayne, N.J.-based Toys “R” Us, which usually does better in the years when there are several sold-out toys. Toys “R” Us has a better ability to “go long,” or order larger quantities of toys, than competitors that don’t specialize in toys.
Jim Silver, editor of Time to Play (timetoplaymag.com), a toy review website that hosted the holiday preview, said toy sales will be “decent” this Christmas, even though the level of consumer spending is uncertain.
The biggest difference this year, he said, is “come December there’s going to be many more items sold out than in past years.” Aggressive layaway programs by Toys “R” Us, Walmart and Kmart will contribute to that, he said. Those programs also will cause shoppers to reserve toys earlier than usual.
”Normally in an election year it’s very slow until after the election,” Silver said. The layaway programs, however, “are changing the landscape,” he said.
Time to Play released the list of toys it expects will be among the hardest to find this holiday season. Among the toys on the list this year are the LeapPad2 Explorer and Leapster GS educational toys by LeapFrog; and figures for the resurrected 1990s toy fad Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as well as Mattel’s Monster High doll line. Time to Play also is betting that a reincarnated Furby toy will be a bestseller.
Chris Byrne, content director of Time to Play, said parents this year continue to be “value-conscious” and want toys their children will play with repeatedly.
The Time to Play event drew close to 50 manufacturers and toy creators showing off their holiday toys and doing some industry networking.
The annual event is a mirror of toy and parenting trends, with one California company, Cloud B, demonstrating how it uses the latest “sleep science” to create products, such as its Tranquil Turtle, that lull infants and older children to sleep with sounds and lights.
JibJab, the company born of online cartoons, was there to explain how it is using its digital animation skills to create personalized storybooks and educational content for kids that can be viewed on iPads.
A number of New Jersey-based companies also were at the show, including Montclair, N.J.-based Wish Factory, which this year has the licensing rights to create dolls and novelty toys featuring the boy band One Direction. This is Wish Factory’s second Christmas selling toys, and CEO Scott Bachrach said its sales are up “several hundred percent” over last year, although the company doesn’t release its revenue. The company has grown to 14 employees from two a year ago.
Bachrach said he is optimistic about holiday sales because “at the end of every year, parents are never going to deny their children” a sought-after toy.
Larry Rosen, CEO of Cra-Z-Art in Randolph, N.J., was similarly optimistic. He has seen his four-year-old company grow to where he expects sales to top $200 million this year. Cra-Z-Art this year has an exclusive deal with Toys “R” Us to carry its Lite Brix construction toys, plastic building blocks that light up in assorted colors. The Lite Brix blocks are compatible with other building systems such as Lego, and Rosen expects the toys will capture 10 percent of the worldwide $4 billion construction toy market.
A Mount Laurel-based company, the U.S. division of Spanish toymaker Famosa, is spearheading the U.S. launch of several toy brands, including Pinypon mini dolls and Nenuco infant dolls.
The toys that will be the most in-demand this year, according to www.timetoplaymag.com:
- Thomas and Friends Steam n Speed R/C Thomas
- LeapPad2 Explorer
- Doc McStuffins Time for Your Checkup Doll
- Little Tikes iTikes Canvas
- Winx Club Believix Dolls
- Winx Club Concert Collection
- Winx Club Everyday Collection
- LeapsterGS Explorer
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Figures
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Deluxe Power Sound FX Figures
- Lalaloopsy Soft Dolls
- My Little Pony Friendship is Magic Pony Princess Wedding Castle
- Monster High Ghouls Rule
- Monster High Ghouls Rule Glawdeen Wolf
- Monster High Ghouls Rule Cleo de Nile
- Monster High Ghouls Rule Draculaura
- Monster High Ghouls Rule Frankie Stein
- Monster High High School
- MEGA Bloks Skylanders Giants Arkeyan Copter Attack
- MEGA Bloks Skylanders Giants Sky Turret Defense
- MEGA Bloks Skylanders Giants
- MEGA Bloks Skylanders Giants Troll Mech Ambush
- LEGO Friends
- LEGO Friends Advent Calendar
- LEGO Friends Adventure Camper
- LEGO Friends Butterfly Beauty Shop
- LEGO Friends City Park Café
- LEGO Friends Heartlake Stables
- WWE Brawlin’ Buddies John Cena
- WWE Brawlin’ Buddies Rey Mysterio
- Barbie Photo Fashion Doll
- Appfinity AppDrive
- Furby
- Air Hogs R/C Heli Replay
- Nerf N-Strike Elite Hail Fire
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