Following up on last month’s article about how Children’s Place is getting ready to sell the Disney Store retail chain back to the Walt Disney Company … I spoke with the managers of a number of New England-area Disney Stores over the past few days.
And while none of these folks wanted to go on-the-record about this still-pending sale (Though — off-the-record — they all expressed the hope that their particular Disney Store would be able to survive the coming downsizing. When Mickey will pare back the number of stores in this North American retail chain from its current high of 337 down to around 200 stores), these management types did want to talk about “WALL * E.”
To be specific, the number of people who’ve been coming into their stores for months now looking for “WALL * E” merchandise. As one manager put it …
“At least a couple of times a day now, customers will come into my Disney Store and ask for ‘WALL * E’ toys. And when I explain that we don’t have anything in stock yet and that these toys won’t actually be available for purchase until just a few weeks before that new Pixar movie is released to theaters, these people seem genuinely disappointed. They want ‘WALL * E’ toys now.
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Just off of the ads that have been shown on television and the trailers that they’ve seen in theaters, these customers have already bonded with that character. I haven’t seen anything like this since ‘Cars.’ “
Ah, yes. That 2006 John Lasseter movie. “Cars” is still considered the gold standard, at least as far as Disney Consumer Products is concerned. Execs who work in that division of the Mouse House still look back fondly on the late spring of 2006. When 90% of the “Cars” -related merchandise that Disney had had licensed was sold out, completely gone from store shelves, three weeks before that Pixar film actually opened in theaters.
And for nearly two years now, sales of “Cars” -related merchandise have remained consistently strong. Unlike what happened with “Pirates of the Caribbean” & “Chronicles of Narnia” merch (Which — truth be told — didn’t sell all that well to begin with. But once these movies left theaters, “Pirates” & “Narnia” toy sales fell straight through the floor), “Cars” merchandise has sold at a steady pace for over 20 months now. Which is one of the main reasons that Mickey felt comfortable with pouring tens of millions of dollars into the development of …
Copyright 2008 Disney / Pixar. All Rights Reserved
- DISNEYCARSONLINE.COM
- DISNEYCARSONLINE.NET
- DISNEYCARSWORLD.COM
- DISNEYCARSWORLD.NET
- DISNEYCARSONLINE.ORG
- DISNEYCARSWORLD.ORG
- RADIDATORSPRINGS.ORG
… that massive multiplayer online game version of the “Cars” universe that Disney hopes to launch in late 2008 / early 2009. Not to mention the hundreds of millions of dollars that the Mouse will be spending on the construction of DCA’s 12-acre “Carsland” expansion area. Which WDI insiders have told me will be like ” … GM Test Track meets Indiana Jones Adventure meets Pixar.”
Mind you, not everything that Pixar produces automatically translates into a consumer products bonanza. Take — for example — “Ratatouille.” While that new Brad Bird movie may have done decent box office as well as earned some Oscar gold … In the retail rat race, Remy & his furry friends were also-rans.
Don’t believe me? Then take a gander at these pixs that Flo Lange was nice enough to shoot for me this past Sunday. Which show the shelves of a Massachusetts-area Disney Store loaded with severely discounted “Ratatouille” merchandise. Where — if you felt the need — you could have picked up a remote control Remy (Which was originally priced at $49.50 per unit) now going for $14.99. Not to mention a Remy-in-a-bottle. Which was originally priced at $14.50 and was now selling for $2.99.
Photo by Flo Lange
Given that retailers the world over were stuck with all sorts of “Ratatouille” merchandise that they couldn’t move … Well, that explains why Disney Consumer Products is now taking a much more pragmatic approach toward the licensing of “Up,” Pixar’s May 2009 release.
Given that this new Pete Docter movie stars a 70-year-old superhero … Well, the belief in-house at Disney Consumer Products is that there isn’t going to be all that much demand for “Up” action figures. Which is why the Mouse has decided to take almost a boutique approach to toward the licensing of this Pixar picture. Putting an extremely limited line of “Up” -related merch out there to help support the release of this film.
Of course, the other reason that Disney Consumer Products is planning on doing a limited run of “Up” merchandise is that Mickey wants none of its licensing partners to feel burned going into 2010. After all, the Mouse wants everyone to be on board for the release of Pixar’s next picture, “Toy Story 3.” Properly handled, that highly anticipated sequel could move mountains of merchandise. Racking up all sorts of record retail sales.
Copyright 2008 Disney / Pixar. All Rights Reserved
But that’s two years down the line … As of right now, the folks who work at the North American Disney Stores are focusing on that those soon-to-arrive “WALL * E” toys. Hoping that they’ll then turn out to be huge sellers.
Why For ? Well, as these Disney Store managers just explained it to me, the folks back in Burbank are going to be paying very close attention to what individual stores earn over the next few months. And those that have particularly strong sales will probably be among the 200 that the Walt Disney Company elects to keep open. Whereas those Disney Stores that don’t have strong sales now through June … Well, they’ll most likely be among the 137 that will be shut down later this year.
So what do you folks think? Is this really a smart way for the Walt Disney Company to return into the retail world? Or does this “Survival of the Fittest” approach seem … Well … April foolish to you?
Your thoughts?