which demographic is buying most?
As Christmas looms ahead, thoughts move towards the hottest toys this
year and parents steel themselves in the annual slog to make sure they
get the sought after merchandise. And so do a lot of grown men. The
recent trend for retro toys has had an impact on the sort of shopper we
find in toy stores and online.
A two tier market has developed, stimulated by an increas...
The shelves are packed with toys with a cross generational appeal, but
which demographic is buying most?
As Christmas looms ahead, thoughts move towards the hottest toys this
year and parents steel themselves in the annual slog to make sure they
get the sought after merchandise. And so do a lot of grown men. The
recent trend for retro toys has had an impact on the sort of shopper we
find in toy stores and online.
A two tier market has developed, stimulated by an increase in retro
culture. The TV schedules and multiplexes are filled with remakes – The
Dukes of Hazzard, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Starsky and Hutch,
Bewitched, Doctor Who and Star Wars have all made an outing in the last
year alone. But as these remakes and rehashes appear vying for an
audience, the question has to be asked – who is the audience? These
films have a cross-generational appeal – the kids they are strictly
catered for and the kids who watched them the first time around.
The impact on the commercial worlds is profound. The merchandising
industry which inevitably surrounds the movie and TV world knows all too
well of the two tier market and are all too happy to fill some of the
shelves for their newfound taller customers. The web is a fertile
marketplace for the bigger kids, with DVD and film sites such as
http://www.moviemail-online.com catering for cult and retro films almost
exclusively. Similarly, a large number of online toy stores such as
http://www.justtoys.com are springing up with the intention of selling
merchandise – Doctor Who Toys, Star Wars Toys - with a specifically
grown–up appeal.
With the trend for Hollywood to look retrospectively in it's efforts to
fill the multiplexes, the trend for retro toys looks set to continue. A
look at the forthcoming releases – King Kong, Wonder Woman, Indiana
Jones 4 – tells us that that the big boys will be pushing you out of the
way to get to their favourite toys in Christmases to come.
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