My Little Pony has been a favourite among young girls for many years and has recently enjoyed a massive surge in demand due to strong tie-ins with TV shows aimed at that market. The surge in interest and sales has also caused Hasbro Inc.’s shares to rise by 4.2% to an all-time high of $56.91.
At the same time, sales of toys for boys didn’t enjoy such a marked success. In the first quarter , Hasbro reported that sales of toys for girls rose by 21% while toys for boys increased by a mere 2%. The company hopes that those statistics will change dramatically with the upcoming releases of Transformer and Spider-Man movies.
While sales of My Little Pony have increased greatly, the all-time sales for their classic, Barbie, have been diminishing, dragging Mattel Inc. into its first loss in almost five years. It seems that these days youngsters prefer dolls with story lines in keeping with their age and don’t really relate to the glamorous and older Barbie doll.
Piper Jaffray analyst Stephanie Wissink spoke to reporters about the newfound success of My Little Pony: “With My Little Pony, Hasbro is having tremendous success because they are developing not just physical toys but also content that helps little girls understand storylines and character development.”
The figures speak for themselves as the girls’ toy industry grew to $138.7 million in the first quarter ending March 30 and accounted for over 20% of total revenue for the company, up an impressive 17.3% from last year.
Hasbro Chief Executive Brian Goldner said about the trend in the toy market: “We’re seeing our market share in girls, particularly in dolls, grow in the U.S. and around the world and we’re also seeing that growth in outdoor activities where Nerf Rebelle has scored.”
It remains to be seen how the dwindling revenue for boys’ toys will be affected when the latest Hollywood blockbusters hit the big screens and garner interest in the toys connected to those movies.