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BUSINESS
Toy retailers get creative this year
Misty Dale of Barboursville gets some Christmas shopping done on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009, at Target in Barboursville.
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HUNTINGTON -- Toys can do almost anything anymore.
"Toy Story" action figures Woody and Buzz Lightyear can talk to each other using infrared signals. Dolls not only crawl, giggle and sneeze, but come with every ornate piece of baby gear that mothers actually use. Stuffed animals have personalities and alternate lives online.
And if parents want to get fancy, they can opt to give their infants an electric guitar that makes animal sounds, rather than, say, a ball.
The question is whether these do-everything toys will sell by their own merit this year as the country still works to pull itself out of recession.
U.S. households are expected to spend an average of $390 on Christmas gifts this holiday season, down from last year's estimate of $418, according to the Conference Board.
Marshall University marketing professor Deanna Mader suspects that lower-priced items will be the hottest this year, like Zhu Zhu Pets, the fast-selling, battery-powered hamsters with personalities and an array of accessories.
"I suspect it's a hot ticket because it's cute and furry and motorized and cheap," she said.
Sales at the Barboursville Target on Tuesday seemed to prove her right. Target gets random shipments of toys, and the shipment of 48 Zhu Zhu Pets on the shelves at 8 a.m. Tuesday were gone in an hour.
"We only allow one per person. That way we can try to make sure everybody gets one," said Ty Williams, an executive team leader at the store.
To get shoppers in their doors to purchase the many other toys out there, retailers are pulling out all the stops. Some stores started offering holiday doorbusters last month, some are opening earlier than usual on Black Friday, and some are offering online deals and layaway.
They're getting creative, said Jack Taylor, a professor of retail at Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama.
"Sears started having Black Friday a month ago. They're trying to break the trend and get customers in early," he said. "And Kmart, for example, has a few months ago started talking about layaway. That was interesting to me for lots of reasons. My wife used it when our children were small.
"Layaway, for years, was a big piece of business and it sort of fell out of grace when the credit card became more popular. Lately, it seems to me it's coming back more. In my mind, it makes sense, especially for toys. Some of those toys can be quite expensive."
Those who need layaway really need it, he said, and can start paying for something in June in small bites and have their item by Christmas
"They'll buy more that way than if they had to pay cash all at one time. I think that's a good move," Taylor said.
Toys R Us has instituted a heavy marketing campaign promoting hot toys and discounted items, said spokesman and toy expert Bob Friedland.
"For us, it's really making sure that we have the hot toys when parents are looking to buy them," he said. "We have new shipments throughout the holiday season. We have incredible values ... throughout the season."
Toys R Us has identified 36 toys this year as being on its "Hot Toy" list, ranging in age from infants to adults and including everything from a Disney notebook computer for kids to a Star Wars Lego Mon Calamari Star Cruiser.
For Black Friday, Toys R Us is doing something new: It's opening with doorbusters at midnight, and then offering even more doorbusters at 5 a.m.
Each Toys R Us location, including the store in Barboursville, will hand out tickets for one $10 Zhu Zhu Pet to the first 100 customers through the door on Black Friday. More will be available throughout the day, Friedland said.
Toy expert Laurie Schacht, founder of ToyInsider.com and TheBigToyBook.com, said Zhu Zhu Pets and all their accessories are definitely the hot toys this year, but will be difficult to get. Still, there are a slew of other toys that could be a good fit for different kinds of kids, she said.
She has some favorites that she recommends. For girls 5 and older, she likes Liv fashion dolls.
"They're four teenage girls and are absolutely gorgeous," she said."Every girl comes with a wig (so you can change their hair). You can also get to them online, so each girl has a secret code and you can go to an online site with games. And each has a diary so you can follow her life online."
For boys, there are many cool things this year, she said, including two great action figures that she likes.
She recommends the Transformer Revenge of the Fallen Optimus Prime and the G.I. Joe from the 2009 movie -- Accelerator Suit Duke.
"If you're not familiar with Transformers, it's the toy that's much more than you see. It transforms into a cool vehicle," Schacht said. The G.I. Joe lights up, and his arms and head move, and when he talks, his lips move, she said.
"He can run like in the movie," she said. "He's running and speaking and raising his arms and shooting."
Toys get more hi-tech every year, but there also are some classics that come back with a twist, Schacht said.
The board game "Clue," for example, is now updated so that players get their clues via text on their cell phones, she said, which is perfect for today.
"If you know anything about teenagers, you know that they don't talk, they text," she said.
Mader of Marshall said she's happy to see the traditional games being promoted and sold for lower prices.
"Department stores and discount stores have big displays of classics like Monopoly and Chutes and Ladders, ranging between $5 and $15," Mader said. "That's nice for two reasons: It's affordable for families, and families are interacting with each other."
Families are going to be smart this year while shopping for Hanukkah and Christmas, she said. There seems to be a cultural shift. People are shopping more at discount stores and outlet malls, she said. They're finding the best deals.
"Parents are parents. They may not buy something for themselves or the house -- they'll make sure their children will have something," Mader said. "But they'll be wiser about what they buy."
What's hot
Bob Friedland, public relations manager for Toys R Us, said the store has 36 toys on its Hot Toys List for 2009. There's no one theme that marks the popular trends in this year's toys, Friedland said. But Toys R Us has identified four trends:
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE: This includes toys that help kids build skills for the future, such as an electric guitar for toddlers, which might spark interest in music.
DESIGNED BY ME: These arts-and-crafts toys might be influenced by parents who are moving back to things like sewing and scrapbooking, Friedland said. The Harumika Runway Showstopper set, which focuses on fashion design, is an example.
REWIND: Toys that parents played with as kids or have been around for a while are back. "They're almost the comfort food of toys," Friedland said. An example is the original Tickle Me Elmo, which is back exclusively at Toys R Us this season.
TINY TREASURES, TEENY PRICES: These are the small toys that pack a lot of fun and have a lot of fun accessories, like Zhu Zhu hamsters.
Here are 10 more toys on the Hot Toy list, in alphabetical order:
Bakugan Maxus Helios 7-in-1: An action figure collection, part of trading card marble game.
Crayola Color Me a Song: A drawing board. The faster kids draw, the faster the music goes.
Disney Netpal Laptop: A working notebook computer for kids. Parent controls allow for a safe environment for kids to go online and play Disney games.
Disney Pixar Toy Story Interactive Buddies (Buzz Lightyear and Woody): A two pack of action figures. They interact through infrared signals.
Disney "Just One Kiss" Princess Tiana Doll, from the new movie "Princess and the Frog."
Fast Lane JLX Overdrive: A radio-controlled ATV for kids.
Laugh and Learn Learning Farm: Play center for infants and toddlers that features music, lights and many items found on a farm and teaches greetings, counting, sorting and other skills.
Little Mommy Baby Achoo: A doll that sneezes and comes with a box of tissues and other supplies for a sick baby.
Lego Star Wars Mon Calamari Star Cruiser Home 1: Lego Construction set made from scenes of "Return of the Jedi." (Fans voted to have that scene re-created, Friedland said.)
Wii Sports Resort from Nintendo: Video game that features fencing, archery and other sports.
