Official Terapeak Blog » toys

Disney Domination: Classic brand feasts on eBay holiday shoppers

terapeak — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:20:42 +0000

A week ago, we blogged about the holiday toy racket, which year after year provides one of the more reliable markets on eBay. But what if you were to boil that phenomenon down into one single brand? (Perhaps in a wicked witch’s cauldron, or as part of a poisonous apple?)

That brand would be Disney.

For more than 85 years, The Walt Disney Company has been one of Hollywood’s biggest money-makers, and a source for some of the world’s most sought-after merchandise. And, naturally, that fervor tends to reach its peak around the holidays.

For starters, here are Terapeak’s current top 5 Hot DVDs:

Those numbers, of course, come on the heels of Disney remastering several of its classic animated films this year, and sales have continued to rise since October. Also in the Terapeak top 20 Hot DVDs are Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Alice in Wonderland.

How about a Terapeak product report? Well here’s a 90-day All Sites search for “Disney” total sales:

Now that’s an extremely broad search, but you can see how the demand for just one keyword rises!

Finally, to show just how annual “Disney Demand” is, here are a pair of two-year category trends. First is a total sales trend for the Collectibles > Disneyana > Contemporary (1968-Now) category:

And second, a total sold listings trend for Toys & Hobbies > TV, Movie & Character Toys > Disney:

Those are some pretty serious peaks and valleys, and it’s easy to see how they match up with the holiday season. So with close to a year before next December rolls around… imagine all the Disney schwag you’ve got time to collect!

Toys, Toys, Toys: Santas worldwide are buying on eBay

terapeak — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:29:08 +0000

This isn’t exactly the hardest time of year for us to find visually-dramatic sales trends — in fact, it’s almost certainly the easiest. A majority of all two-year Terapeak trends will show peaks and valleys in correlation with the holidays, and there’s no better category for that than eBay’s Toys & Games.

We’ve seen time and time again how certain toys will blow up for one season (Furby, Tickle-Me-Elmo, Cabbage Patch), while others will continue to sell year after year. Today, we’ll look at a few examples from 2009 — though of course there are hundreds more.

First is Leapster, an educational handheld game console that teaches kids the alphabet, phonics and basic math (among other things). First released in 2003, there’s been a recent spike in demand for Leapster 2, released last year. Here’s a 60-day total sales trend for “Leapster”:

Next is a classic: Lego. Dating back to the 1930s, the little building blocks are a big-time seller all year round… but rarely to the scale that the holidays provide. Here’s a 60-day sales trend for “Lego” (which, last Sunday, totalled more than $1.5 million in eBay.com sales!):

And finally, here’s this year’s phenomenon: Zhu Zhu Pets. You may have read about them already — robotic hamsters! — but if you’ve yet to believe the hype, check out this 60-day trend for “zhu zhu pet”:

It’s a prosperous venture, this toy racket. Here’s to guessing what next year’s craze will be!

The Rise of Bakugan: It’s time to take action!

terapeak — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:53:59 +0000

Browsing Terapeak’s Hot Searches list, which ranks the most popular eBay searches over the past little while, you’ll find a lot of familiar suspects in places 1 through 7: wii, ipod, xbox 360, iphone, wii fit, coach, psp… Okay, nothing crazy. So color us surprised to see sitting at number 8:

… Bakugan? For realzies? What the heck is Bakugan?

Naw but seriously, we’ve heard a little bit about this toy-collecting phenomenon: Bakugan is a Japanese anime television series, accompanied by a strategic game involving cards and spring-loaded action figurines. These products are produced by Sega Toys and Spring Master, and according to Terapeak they’re also exceptionally popular on eBay.

Where it gets even more interesting is this recent announcement on KidsTechReview, which outlines a plan for Digital Blue to begin production on a line of Bakugan electronics: digital cameras, alarm clocks, and who knows what else. According to the blog post, the first products will be released this coming spring.

Wait, so if “bakugan” is the 8th-most searched term and “digital camera” is 9th, does that mean these things have a pretty good chance of selling well? Hmm, time will tell. Though we do think this looks pretty rad…

GI Joe sales steady as film project moves forward

terapeak — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:39:12 +0000

GI Joe figures are a hot product category on eBay, and it’s only going to get hotter as a live action movie based on the popular toy and cartoon series has recently gone into production.

Director Stephen Sommers (the Mummy) is attached to the project and actors Marlon Wayans, Sienna Miller, and Christopher Eccleston have joined the cast.

Nearly 40,000 GI Joe listings ended in the last 30 days on eBay.com, 66% of which ended in sale, and worth over $690,000.
The 3 3/4 inch GI Joe action figure category showed up in this month’s Terapeak Hot Category list, due to a high success rate, and growing demand.
Here’s a trend of that category:

The listings in this category have enjoyed above a 60% sell-through rate for the last years. This means that 60% of all listings sell, and that’s a steady category!

Hasbro’s other line of toys, Transformers, was also adapted into a film franchise that grossed over 300 million in the US box office. Demand for Transformers toys peaked at the time of the movie’s release last summer, and demand for GI Joe listings will likely follow the same pattern.