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Peek
No : 4
July 30, 2003 |
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Hello!
Our kids are
products of the digital age. They are the future of our country.
It is said, "You become who you hang with". The toys our
kids play with shape their thoughts and their aspirations. Our toy
industry faces the onerous task of both keeping our kids occupied
and making them learn, the fun way. This fortnight, it is a peek
into our Toy industry.
We will start
off with a peek at the status of our economy.
Chain
Store Sales
Chain Store
Sales remained strong in July. Sales at major U.S. chain stores
rose 2.6 % in the third week of July. On the whole, sales increased
by 1.0 % over the previous month.
Non-Manufacturing
Index
The non-manufacturing
index rose to 60.6 in June. This index was found to hover around
54.5 in May and 50.7 in April. This index is made up of services
that constitute over 65% of total economic output of US. The index
for June fares as the best since the 60.7 mark recorded in September
2000.
New Home
Sales
Orders for durable goods rose 2.1% in June. This gain is
followed by a minor gain witnessed in May.
Agricultural
Prices
U.S. Farm Prices stayed constant in June as compared to the previous
month and were up by 8.2% from the previous year. The preliminary
All Farm Products Index of Prices Received by Farmers in June was
106, the same as in May.
Happy Peeking!
Editorial
Team
Marketspeek
Executive
Editor - Dr. Sharon Livingston
Editor - Vijay
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| Fortnight Focus |
Toy
industry - America
- Among
the user segments, Infant (also named as the Pre-school)
remains the largest. This segment accounts close to $3.0
billion of the turnover of the industry.
- The
next biggest segment, in terms of sales, is the “Dolls
& Accessories” segment. The size of this segment
is estimated to be over $2.4 billion in sales.
- The
Arts and Crafts segment of toys, dominated by mechanical
design toys, has been estimated to grow by more than 15%.
- As
per the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department
of Labor, the toy industry provides employment to more 30,000
persons in the U.S. Out of the total strength, as high as
60 % are involved in production related jobs.
- U.S.
imports more than $15.1 billion worth of toys every year.
China emerges as the leading exporter to US, its exports
having crossed the $ 10 billion mark. Other leading exporters
of toys to US are Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand and Canada.
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Vital
Statistics
The size of the
toy industry of USA during the last few years is as under:
The
industry is expected to end up with a size of $ 20.2 billions
in 2003.
The shares of exports from toy exporters to the US are captured
below :
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Analysis
- Toy Industry
- The Infant
segment has grown in excess of 2%. The key factor behind this
trend is the surge of educational products that make a child to
learn while at play. This is a classic case of creating need-based
products that are readily accepted by the market.
- Shoppers
have started buying toys from general merchandise chains than
from exclusive toy chains. This trend indicates that the interest
of buyers is tilting towards shops with a wide selection, that
sell at the best price. The convenience of buying household goods
and toys in a single place is also a factor.
- The Consumer
Price Index shows that the prices of toys have decreased by 1%
in the last 10 years. This trend has prevailed even when the costs
of other consumer goods have increased by 2.8% during the same
period. This trend shows the competitive nature of the industry
and price sensitivity of shoppers.
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| Wish I were |
A
baron is born
It was the most unlikely beginning for a success story. He was born
in the throes of the Depression, in the savage and inhospitable
plains of Dakota, raised by an impoverished widowed mother. But
our protagonist had the guts and the gumption to rise above it all,
to launch what has become today the most widely circulated daily
in the USA - USA Today.
Meet Al Neuharth,
the man who gave early indications of his innovative spirit by being
born aptly enough - in a town called Eureka. Neuharth surged ahead
with the same inventive spirit, despite the sneers of competitors
who dismissed his paper as `Neuharth’s nonsense’. Fifteen
percent of his journalists quit in the early months, angry at the
way
he slashed their articles, making the stories short and snappy.
He made waves by hiring women and minorities as reporters, giving
his news a fresh slant, a new perspective. He went on to make even
more changes - adding more colour, graphics, pizzazz and several
popular elements from the TV medium.
Readers
loved this brash new paper and its circulation soared to one million
in just seven months. But as the advertisers refused to accept these
figures, the paper continued to be in the red for five long years.
However, the company he headed posted uninterrupted gains for 85
consecutive quarters.
Today, there is no looking back. There are imitators galore of his
electrifying style that set the country on fire, taking his brainchild
to the top rank nationwide. And his legacy is a tribe of journalists
who swear proudly by the paper he imbued with his free spirit.
For
further reading:
http://www.asne.org/kiosk/archive/convention/2001/leadership/neuharth.html
http://www.crazyhorse.org/story/50/neuharth.htm
http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/qtr2_2003/0422-159.html
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/fsb/specials/innovators/neuharth.html
http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=16558
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| BrandFact |
| The
Magnum XL-200 in Ohio was the first roller coaster
to crack the 200-foot height barrier. |
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| This Fortnight that Age |
July
25th, 1854 - Walter Hunt of New York City patented
the paper collar. The once-popular collar was part of a clergyman’s
wardrobe.
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| Make us Work 4 you |
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research team will be glad to work on a research assignment for
you. Download the proposal requisition form and commission our cost-effective
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| Insight |
| I
find the great thing in this world is not so much
where we stand, as in what direction we are moving:
To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind
and sometimes against it, but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie
at anchor. |
-
Oliver Wendell Holmes
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| If
you are looking to subscribe to our Executive Editor - Dr. Sharon
Livingston’s newsletter on primary research and projective
techniques, send a blank email to marketspeek@executive-solutions.com |
Disclaimer
The information
presented in this Newsletter is not based on any primary research
undertaken exclusively for this purpose; it is based on secondary
sources of information, as current as the researchers were able to
collect from the sources. However, should any specific client need
up-to-date information on this (or any other) segment, they may commission
Executive Solutions to do such
research. |
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