11/05/2002 - Updated 01:02 PM ET
Toymakers hope for a high-tech holiday season
URL:http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techreviews/products/2002-11-05-holiday-gifts_x.htm
PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters) — Fuzzy dancing chickens, fun educational games (really!) and kid-focused computer gadgets may bring high-tech toy makers joy this holiday season, despite rattled consumer confidence.
But if 11-year-old Elizabeth Habara is any gauge, those manufacturers also will compete with some decidedly low-tech rivals for space under the Christmas tree.
Interviewed at a Silicon Valley toy store, where her mom was surprising her with a popular iQuest personal organizer from LeapFrog Enterprises, Habara said her Christmas wish list is different from that of her friends — who are requesting laptop computers and other pricey items.
"We've been admiring a dog," said Habara, a sixth-grader, who also is hoping for a new bike to replace her old, outgrown one.
Whether the toys are high-tech, low-tech or no-tech, retail analysts predict that parents will again deliver on childrens' holiday wishes before they buy the new appliances, clothes or other items on their own lists.
"Toys are almost recession-proof," said Reyne Rice, director of communications at the NPD Group, a marketing information company in Port Washington, N.Y.
There is a short window when kids believe in Santa Claus, Rice said. "You want your kids to have that magic at Christmas."
High-tech fever everywhere
While board games, dolls, train sets and other "retro" gifts are expected to be popular this season, high-tech rivals threaten to overshadow such old-fashioned picks.
Rice said NPD started a "smart toys" tracking service in late 1999 but discontinued it this January because about three-quarters of all toys were using computer chips.
Some of the most popular high-tech toys come from LeapFrog — maker of the LeapPad reading toy and Turbo Twist and Twist & Shout spelling and math learning toys — which has been growing like gangbusters, despite the slow U.S. economy.
The California-based company is again expected to have many of the top-selling toys this holiday season. Its best-selling LeapPad, which sells for around $50, can be Web-enabled so parents can download new content and save a trip to the store.
Analysts said other contenders include Hasbro's FurReal Friends, a fluffy toy cat that purrs and moves its head like the real thing; the Barbie wireless video camera; and Neurosmith's Musini, which uses sensors to create music keyed off kids' movements.
Even this year's Chicken Dance Elmo — cousin to the wildly popular, giggling Tickle Me Elmo stuffed toy of a couple seasons back — runs on a computer chip.
It would not have been possible to make Chicken Dance Elmo five or seven years ago, said Jim Silver, co-publisher of Toy Wishes magazine, a twice-yearly buying guide that also puts together the closely watched "Hot Dozen" toy ranking.
"The toy industry each year goes more and more high tech. When a 4-year-old is playing with CD-ROMs on a computer, you need something more high tech to keep them amused," he said.
Silver is betting that Sesame Street-inspired Chicken Dance Elmo will be this season's must-have toy for toddlers. Others tend to agree, and are entertaining bids from potentially desperate gift-givers for that toy and the FurReal kitty on Internet auction site, eBay.
Holiday crunch
Robert Spector, an independent retail analyst and author of books about Nordstrom and Amazon.com, said parents face a time crunch and possible toy shortages this holiday shopping season.
Because of the late arrival of Thanksgiving, the 2002 holiday shopping season is nearly a week shorter than usual, he said.
Toy supplies could also be problematic as the weak economy has prompted retailers to trim inventories. And, due to the wide use of software and other high-tech products that help retailers and manufacturers move supplies in and out quicker, simmering labor conflicts at West Coast ports from San Diego to Seattle could exacerbate any supply issues and unmask the dark side of the super-efficient, just-in-time distribution model.
"If you want to buy something, get it when you see it. Don't think it's going to be in the store on Christmas Eve, because it won't," Spector said, adding that his daughter is among the teen-agers with high-tech gadgets on her list.
"She wants a PlayStation 2," Spector said, referring to Sony's video game console.
"I just might get it for her. I should probably get it soon," he said. |
