The announcement that Wal-Mart (WMT) will be slashing a number of toy prices in their "Top 12 Toys of Christmas" initiative, should be good news for media companies that license their properties and characters to the industry.
With the spate of toy recalls, housing problems, consumer confidence and slowing retail, the industry will be very happy to hear this happening so early in the year - two weeks before Wal-Mart announced price cuts last year.
Even better news, the retail giant added this is only the beginning of price cuts for the holiday season.
Many media companies had to be concerned over this matter, as everything, as far as product sales goes, wasn't looking good for the season. Even with these cuts, it's hard to tell in the present economy and unsureties if this will make a huge difference.
But the psychology of consumers will be there, regardless of what happens, and the price cuts will help overall no matter what happens.
It will also force competitors of Wal-Mart to respond, and will help to increase sales across the board at major retailers. Either way, this will help the bottom line of media companies who have been concerned on how much they could count on holiday sales for their merchandising efforts. This will definitely help them for the quarter.
A great website for toys this holiday season is www.Toy-Merica.com.
Toy-Merica is a simple resource guide to American made toys with content including a toy store, retailer links, news, and toy industry guides!
Posted by: Phil | October 3, 2007 3:29 PM | Permalink to Comment