Hasbro Action Figure Market Reporting Slow Sales
Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 11:12 amAccording to a number of reports from financial specialists and consultants, Hasbro's sales of action figures tied to blockbuster film releases (the big Marvel names) has not done as well as expected so far. In a more thorough article than other news outlets, The Globe and Mail looks at the decrease in both sales and productions, which might be affecting Transformers: Age of Extinction merchandise due to 'action figure fatigue' (though, it should be noted, the robots have yet to arrive in cinemas, so this is not entirely reflective of the franchise's success yet - and it has dinosaur robots who breathe fire). We've copied relevant parts of the article below, and yo ucan read the whole thing here.
Hasbro dominates what the industry calls the boy’s toy category, and is highly dependent on movies to generate sales.
But the company’s products linked to Marvel Worldwide Inc. comics – Transformers: Age of Extinction, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier – have generated less customer excitement than investors were expecting, according to Gerrick Johnson, retail analyst at BMO Nesbitt Burns. It could be because none of these movies are the first of their kind.
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The fourth Transformers film, which is set to be released in late June, got half the shelf space at Toys R’ Us, Target and Wal-Mart as the movie’s third instalment, Mr. Johnson said – this may have disappointed investors who were expecting the big-name movie to drive demand. He attributes the reduced space to increased caution on the part of retailers, and a certain amount of customer weariness.
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Driving profit from the boys products category has been a challenge for Hasbro in the last couple of years. In 2011 net revenues were $1.8-billion (U.S.) for boys, but that fell to $1.2-billion by the end of fiscal 2013 – the figures are heavily influenced by theatrical releases.
This year, there are so many action movies coming out that there’s likely to be a cannibalization of toy sales, said Lutz Muller, head of toy industry consultants Klosters Trading Corp. “There’s only so many superhero movies that one kid can see,” he said.
Mr. Muller’s research shows that toy sales usually decline with each new movie in a series, even if the box office does well, or very well, because the characters tend to be similar and many children have toys from the prior films.
