Hi Friend,
I hope this note finds you well.
I was hoping you could share some news from Canada.
Are Beanies still popular in Canada?
Are the Beanie Kids popular?
What are some ways Ty can bring this market back to where it used
to be?
Any additional information you are willing to share would be greatly
appreciated.
Janie
******************************************
Janie,
So good to hear from you again! You're like a breath of fresh air cutting through tons of smog!
Re: beanies are still selling well - which is full complement. Ty has been shipping a dozen of five designs at a time. As of this past week retailers received all twenty of the newest ones - in four shipments. In June many received twenty-four of each of the twenty designs. I've checked a bit, and although they seem to sell faster than the average - there seems to be an excellent, faithful customer base for various items of merchandise - stores seem to be selling out of the newest designs relatively quickly. However, Ty would do well to put less of each design into the overall Canadian market as the fad has faded considerably.
Re: previous beanie designs,
most stores have at least some of them in stock.
Stores have some of Sammy, Neon, Stilts and Goochy. But even at
that, they don't have more than a 100 total. And, they're still
selling, albeit slowly.
Re: Beanie Kids, outside of the promotion done in a few stores across Canada, retailers still aren't able to order. I mentioned to my wife last evening that I thought it odd that retailers still can't order them.
I should also add, that it would appear to me that the sale of Attics and Buddies has slowed down. The newest types of Attic bears don't seem to be going over nearly as well as the old design.
Re: what Ty could do to
bring back the market. I doubt there is anything that could rekindle
the fad to that extent. However, increasing bears would help some.
We collectors ask for beans more than anything else. As well,
releasing the Beanie Kids in Canada would help this market. From
my own observation, bears, cats and dogs still do much better
than the average.
In fact, cats and dogs rival most bear sales. My observation also
tells me that Ty should concentrate on plush that sells up to
$15 Canadian, and stay away from the more stiff animals that have
recently come under the
Classic line. The latter seems to be a hard sell in customer markets.
I've noticed that $30 plush moves much more slowly than the $15.
Another bit of info. Recently a couple of small stores in our region have been discounting Ty items - even at a local flea market. I suspect they are over stocked, and don't have the good locations that some retailers have, not to mention the financial resources to handle slow downs.
I have also noticed that at least one non-beanie Ty account was recently shipped the newest beanies. Could it be that Ty is not selling the volume that it needs to to take care of incoming stock? Or was it something else that has precipitated this change of policy whereby some Ty accounts couldn't up to now get beanies?
I also hear from a retailer
friend of mine that Ty is thinking about eliminating reps in Canada,
and dealing directly with retailers. Personally, I think this
would be a mistake. My retailer feels that Ty Reps are the best
PR persons Ty could hope to have. PR from the head office of Ty
Canada isn't all that hot. In other words, it helps to know someone
inside! :-) I've heard that their people in Toronto know virtually
nothing about the rest of the country - true of other companies
as well.
This items is merely hearsay, but comes from an excellent source
which I cannot reveal.
You've done a lot for us, Janie. May the above be helpful to you.
Blessings on you, my friend.