Dive Brief:
-
Wal-Mart U.S. CEO Greg Foran says toys will be big this year, thanks mostly to electronic toys that make toys more exciting to older kids.
-
Disney is also slated to have a good year, with Star Wars and Frozen toys both expected to be favorites.
-
Toy sales rose 6.5% in the first half of the year, according to retail consulting firm The NPD Group, which also says it expects strong holiday sales that could make this year one of the best for toy sales in years.
Dive Insight:
Disney’s Frozen continues to capture the imagination of many children, and the company’s December release of the highly anticipated Star Wars movie is providing extremely good timing.
Toys at the holidays may seem obvious, but sales have dampened in recent years.
"The selection is much greater than in the past," Jim Silver, editor-in-chief of TTPM, an online toy review site, told the Associated Press. "Technology is much better in the toy aisle, and it's really inspiring young kids to play but also bringing older kids to things like radio control and role play items.”
Still, competition is expected to be fierce in the market, with general retailers like Amazon and Target and specialty retailers like Toys R Us offering many of the same toys, and shoppers using phones to find the best deals.
“We see customers using mobile phones, scanning items, and checking prices, trying to see whether we have the product on line, and probably checking some of our competitors online,” Wal-Mart's Foran told Fortune. “We’ve got to be really good at this.”
Foran said that Wal-Mart will let the toy area grow and merge with some other merchandise in stores, which will help the retailer avoid crowded stock rooms and bring more workers out to the floor to help customers.