Do you fondly remember the old, pre-technology days when kids either wanted the Barbie Dream Car, or the G.I. Joe with the Kung-Fu Grip? Well, Mattel and Hasbro sure as heck do, and today’s technology craving kids are scaring the crap out of them!
BGR:
…today American children are looking to get more high-tech Christmas gift such as tablets, the Financial Times reports. In fact, today’s children are so interested in tablets and smartphones that major toy manufacturers Hasbro and Mattel are said to be worried sick about their futures.
Sean McGowan, managing director of equity research at Needham & Company, says the top two companies, Mattel and Hasbro are terrified. “They should be terrified, but the official party line is they’re not terrified.”
Mattel’s top-selling toy this year wasn’t even a traditional toy, it was a plastic cellphone case!
The Financial Times notes that tablets are not just something kids use now and then when they’re bored, saying “the amount of time children are spending with technology devices has skyrocketed” because they can “watch free content online and play free video games for hours on end.”
This could be good news for bargain hunters. With the trouble the toy companies are having moving their products, you could possibly pick up some great deals on toys at after-Christmas sales. Good luck getting your kids to play with them though…
