With the
domestic toy and doll market slowing in recent years amid tough competition
from China and the fashion doll segment in particular growing slower than other
sub categories, it has become increasingly difficult for doll makers to capture
the attention of consumers. NPD Group data from last year shows toy sales were
off by about 1% from the $22B pulled down in 2012, a figure that has followed
the industry for almost a decade now. To a certain extent this stagnant growth
is attributable to the massive upswing in video games and small electronics
taking more and more of the market share, but it is also due to a considerable
lack of variety among the offerings of the dominant brands from Mattel (NASDAQ:
MAT) like Barbie and the Disney Princess offerings.
The
biggest play of the year looks to be the Disney (NYSE: DIS) animated film
Frozen products, whose cachet value looks extremely high after the success of
the film as we head into this year’s holiday season. Major domestic toy
retailer Toys “R” Us pegged the Snow Glow Elsa Doll as the top pick going into
Christmas 2014, riding high on the $1B plus in ticket sales the film made and
related consumer market full of young girls enamored of the film’s characters.
TTPM (Time to Play Magazine), the veteran industry trade publisher that has
tracked sector performance for decades now, recently indicated that initial
sales reports look positive and that spending was up broadly with a “good buzz”
going into Q4.
One of the
more compelling plays in the sector today, One World Holdings, Inc.
(OTCQB:OWOO), continues to gain ground with The Prettie Girls!™ line of
multicultural fashion dolls via their One World Doll Project subsidiary.
Developed by OWOO lead-designer, Stacey McBride-Irby, in conjunction with
legendary collectors doll designer Robert Tonner and The Tonner Doll Company,
The Prettie Girls! brand features a lineup of beautiful, ethnically diverse,
and positive role models for young girls, with African-American, African,
Caucasian, Hispanic, and South Asian dolls. Such a product portfolio, as
diverse as America’s continually evolving cultural demographics, is more
appealing to a wider audience and the company has already signed a retail
partnership with Toys “R” Us, making the lineup available on Toysrus.com.
Similar
retail expansion with the HEB Grocery Company’s chain of locations, tipped off
by overwhelmingly positive direct feedback from mothers who are ecstatic to
finally find a brand of doll for their daughters that is not only diverse, but
contemporarily fashionable, has led OWOO to place a big production order in
order to bring inventory levels for The Prettie Girls!™ up to 75k units in
anticipation of the holidays. Ten HEB stores placed new orders in June amid
growing receptivity across their retail footprint for the dolls and after OWOO
founder Trent Daniel made a rousing presentation in front of some 80 store
managers.
To further
shore-up this growing receptivity to the strikingly diverse doll line, OWOO has
entered into an $800k private equity partnership with renown NY hedge fund,
Blackbridge Capital, in order to tighten up the balance sheet. The company is
on-track to consolidate and eliminate several large convertible notes this
quarter as a result of the partnership, totaling over $415k and putting the
company within striking distance of their 2014 goal of reducing total debt by
50%. Also notable, OWOO has managed to secure a premier spot at Toy Fair 2015,
where OWOO will unveil the full line Prettie Girls! dolls.
A far cry
from the staid old Barbie brand, with girls from a diverse cultural heritage in
decidedly modern fashions, The Prettie Girls! could be just the ticket to
retake lost ground in the fashion doll segment this Christmas and OWOO is
betting that the HEB and Toys “R” Us endpoints will help accelerate sales
nicely.
To learn
more, visit the One World Holdings website at www.oneworlddolls.com
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