G.I. Joe toy maker Hasbro, Inc. reported its first quarter profits were down 71 percent. Weak revenue--especially in games and puzzles, and girls' toys--increased spending on product development, and investment in the HUB television joint-venture were cited as contributing factors.
The first quarter is typically slow for toy makers, but a decrease in demand for toys during the holiday season forced retailers to hold back on first quarter orders, as they tried to unload excess holiday inventory.
Revenue of boy's toys increased 25 percent on the strength of Beyblade, a spinning top toy based on a Japanese manga series.
4 comments:
Hasbro would have performed better if they actually have products in the shelves. Here in the Philippines we have been dried out of Joes since last year, not even one wave of POC hit our shore (except for the third market, which sells it 3x the price). This is a great strategy in the part of the marketing people of Hasbro, they don't make commercials, they don't have catalogs, they don't have their products in the shelves, how do they expect to sell any?
It's been difficult to find product in the U.S. as well. After the initial waves of Pursuit of Cobra hit, it's been very slow going and newer waves are nearly impossible to find. What's worse is that stores like Wal-Mart and Kmart aren't even carrying the line, making it that much more frustrating. I wouldn't blame this on Hasbro marketing; I think it’s just the current state of G.I. Joe. The Rise of Cobra clogged up the retail channels and retailers are hesitant to place large orders for G.I. Joe product. Many items that were stuck in limbo because of the distribution backlog are ending up at discount retailers like Ross and Marshalls. Despite that, Hasbro has done a very good job of evolving the Pursuit of Cobra line and differentiating it from the Rise of Cobra line by making it a good value purchase. In comparison to other toy brands, you get a lot of extras for the price of a G.I. Joe figure and collectors are returning to the G.I. Joe brand because of this. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough new product to meet growing demand and retailers either don’t have the space or are still wary about G.I. Joe.
Again it all boils down to their marketing department. Back in the 80's they have comic books and cartoons that matches what Hasbro releases. All was synced up, Duke or Snake eyes looks the same where ever you look at them so more children recognizes them. Now you con't even recognize a Crimson guard with all these independent comic book rendition, now everything is more "willie nilly". I hope they could sort through these mess so the fans can see a single coherent universe and this will bring more new fans and will trickle down to the retailers.
I completely agree with you about lack of cohesion. Great point! There is far too much divergence in the G.I. Joe brand. One day Dial Tone is a male, the next day female and now male again. Using names arbitrarily to fit slots confuses younger fans, frustrates older fans and waters down the G.I. Joe story. Why don’t they just create another character if they need to fit a specific persona?
Your point has even more validity because after watching the latest episode of G.I. Joe Renegades today (“Shipwrecked”), the Joe team was calling a Cobra created biomass a Techno-Viper. At G.I. Joe Con a few weeks ago, Hasbro just announced they would be releasing a Techno-Viper figure in its classic battlefield technician form. Obviously there is a HUGE discrepancy in the two. As I mentioned things like this frustrates fans like us and is going to confuse the heck out the future generations of Joe collectors—kids—who go to the store and see a figure named Techno-Viper that isn’t who they saw in the cartoon. Someone needs to take hold of the reins and stop this.
Post a Comment