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WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES BY
BOB GLASER
his month’s Licensing Show will, once again, be held in Las Vegas. All I can say is what a difference a year makes. All the talk leading up to last year’s show in Las Vegas was whether the show should have left New York City. Would anyone exhibit? Would anyone attend? There seemed to be no talk about business. Things have certainly changed. Heading into this year’s show all the griping has ceased and the attention is now focused on the task at hand: developing, creating, and marketing licensed properties that consumers will buy. How consumers support licensing in the future has yet to be determined. And a lot of the answer will come from the industry itself. It will be determined by how the industry approaches this next decade of the evolving business. In LIMA’s (The International Licensing Industry Merchandisers Association) Licensing Industry Survey for 2009 some interesting results appear. In the “Estimated Licensing Revenues by Product Category for 1999–2008” section, sales of licensed toys/games were down 4.8 percent in 2008 compared with 2007. This drop in sales can be attributed to the economy coming to a standstill in 2008. Looking at the revenues in the same category over the years 1999–2008 the decrease in sales is even more alarming. Over that period of time almost $200 million was lost. Figures show that in 1999 this category accounted for approximately $1 billion in sales. Yet in 2008 the toys/games category accounted for approximately $839 million in sales. That is a significant decrease for all involved in every aspect of the industry. To what can this negative trend be attributed? For some time now, manufacturers have been complaining that retailers are only interested in carrying product from an evergreen property or from the hottest property of the year. Sometimes these are one in the same. While this strategy leads to sales, the above numbers show that the strategy is not leading to increased sales over time. I certainly am not advocating that now is the time to throw caution to the wind and manufacturers should license every possible property presented to them. And retailers shouldn’t instantly change their buying strategy and carry all possible licensed properties in their stores. However, a little tweaking is in order. We need to be open to new properties, new products, new ways of doing business, and perhaps a new approach at retail to wow consumers. There is a lot at stake, dollar-wise specifically, when talking about licensing. Manufacturers dole out considerable amounts of money to secure licenses. Retailers count on the dollars generated by selling licensed goods to bolster their bottom line. To that end, it is important that both manufacturer and retailer walk the aisles of the Licensing Show with a keen eye. Gambling on the anticipated hits is a good bet. Yet be open to new approaches. To reverse the downward sales trend, a calculated roll of the dice may be needed.
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4 TOYS & FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT JUNE 2010
PUBLISHED
BY ANB
MEDIA • Volume 5, Number 7
PUBLISHER BOB GLASER BOB@ANBMEDIA.COM ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER ANDY KRINNER ANDY@ANBMEDIA.COM ADVERTISING MANAGER DOMINICK DADDIO DOMINICK@ANBMEDIA.COM CONTROLLER MARY GROGAN MARY@ANBMEDIA.COM EDITOR IN CHIEF JIM SILVER JIM@ANBMEDIA.COM EDITORIAL DIRECTOR NANCY LOMBARDI NANCY@ANBMEDIA.COM MANAGING EDITOR CHRIS ADAMS CHRISA@ANBMEDIA.COM EDITOR AT LARGE CHRISTOPHER BYRNE CHRISB@ANBMEDIA.COM ASSISTANT EDITORS LAURIE LEAHEY; LAURIE@ANBMEDIA.COM PAUL NARULA; PAUL@ANBMEDIA.COM WEB MASTER ERIK KIECKHAFER ERIK@ANBMEDIA.COM WEB CONTENT MANAGER BRENDAN SANABRIA BRENDAN@ANBMEDIA.COM CONTRIBUTORS STACY LEISTNER; AMANDA MCDORMAN; KATHLEEN MCHUGH; MARK NUCCIO; MATT NUCCIO, MATT@DESIGNEDGE.NET PUBLIC RELATIONS REPRESENTATIVE JOSSLYNNE WELCH LITZKY PUBLIC RELATIONS, 320 SINATRA DRIVE, HOBOKEN, N.J. 07030 (201) 222–9118 EXT. 13 • JWELCH@LITZKYPR.COM INTERESTED IN A SUBSCRIPTION? CONTACT SUBSCRIPTIONS@ANBMEDIA.COM ANB MEDIA, INC. 229 WEST 28TH STREET, SUITE 401, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10001 PHONE: (646) 763–8710 • FAX: (646) 763–8727 TOYS & FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT and SPECIALTY EMPORIUM are published monthly by aNb
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