Publishers Play with Value
by Karen Raugust -- Publishers Weekly, 2/27/2006
Value was the buzzword among the more than 40 publishers exhibiting at the New York International Toy Fair, held earlier this month at New York City's Javits Center and Toy District showrooms. In large part, increasing value meant adding bells and whistles rather than lowering price points.
In fact, the high-value mantra extended through all price levels. Innovative Kids'Get Ready for Kindergarten! kit, which retails for $24.99, includes a skills poster, manipulatives, 43 stickers, three activity books, a gameboard and spinner, and a parent guide. Retailers initially told the company they expected consumer price resistance for this relatively expensive product, but sell-through turned out to be strong.
On the low-price end of the scale, several publishers exhibited books with many added features, such as foils, die-cuts, embossing or licenses, all retailing for under a dollar. Kappa Books, which sells largely to dollar stores, showed several coloring and activity titles priced below $1, all tied to licenses such as Fox's Ice Age: The Meltdown, MGM's Pink Panther and DreamWorks' Over the Hedge.
Paradise Press, which introduced eight electronic books last year, now has over 100 interactive titles of various types, including a line of 24-page Read to Me sound storybooks. Paradise also showed a storybook packaged with four music CDs, retailing for $7.99.
Extras are particularly important in nonfiction, where the Internet increasingly competes for children's attention. "You have to bring something new to bring people to the book," said Lynn Brennan, general merchandise manager at Silver Dolphin Books. The company's Explore It series debuted with two $14.95 titles, Ancient Egypt and Earthquakes & Volcanoes; both include pop-ups, flaps and fold-out models that can't be replicated online.
In general, especially for mass market retailers, more is better, particularly when it comes to licensed titles. Modern Publishing was one exhibitor selling jumbo coloring books, with its versions retailing for $4.99 to $6.99. It also has created value-added titles, such as seven-in-one activity books for the price clubs.
Several mass market publishers were featuring multipacks of existing titles. Modern has collected three Bratz books in a landscape package for $9.99, and has assembled a $50, 36-title box of its Treasury of Illustrated Classics for Costco. The company also has a 24-pack for Sam's Club stores.
Similarly, Bendon Publishing has created $9.99 box sets of existing board books for several of its licenses. Other new formats for Bendon included giant pop-up storybooks for $12.95 and digest-sized activity books with stickers for $1.99.
Sidelines companies are highlighting sets as well. Merrymakers collected five Piggies finger puppets, from Don and Audrey Wood's book (published by Harcourt), into a playset and also offered a Diary of a Worm playset, consisting of Worm, Spider and Fly, based on the HarperCollins titles. As MerryMakers president Clair Frederick said, "Retailers really like the sets."
To read more about this year's Toy Fair, go to www.publishersweekly.com/2006toyfair.
