The Ways Mattel Can Reverse the Decline in Barbiea's Sales
How can Mattel reverse the decline in Barbie’s sales? Should Mattel giveup on Barbie and accept the fact that the brand will never regain its former sales status? Explain.
Although Barbie remains a blockbuster by any standard, Barbie’s popularity has slipped over the past decade. There were two major reasons for Barbie’s sales decline. First, the changing lifestyles of young girls are a concern for Mattel. Many young girls prefer to spend time with music, movies, or the Internet than play with traditional toys like dolls. Second, Barbie has suffered at the hands of new and innovative competition, including the Bratz doll line that gained significant market share during the early 2000s. The dolls, which featured contemporary, ethnic designs and skimpy clothes, were a stark contrast to Barbie and an immediate hit with young girls. (Ferrel & Hartline, 2011)
However, they can reverse their declining sales, since Mattel is a strong company that has strong brand recognition due to Barbie. In order to reverse the effect in Barbie sales they should do a research on cultures of different countries and develop dolls according to the girls preference’s in their countries. They can produce other Barbie themed products which will again create popularity in the market like Barbie T-shirts, interactive board and card games, architecture of Barbie houses and gadgets, educational videos and games and collectible items of Barbie dolls.
With new applications on computers, IPad, Iphones and social networking sites like Facebook, twitter and other games sites, they will be able to manage its declining sales. Another way is to create annual events and contests around the countries and organise games, beauty contests among children who will be dressed as their favourite Barbie character.
Moreover, developing Barbie with celebrity figures can further enhance the Barbie declining sales. Mattel should not give up on the Barbie sales as with the right marketing approach
Although Barbie remains a blockbuster by any standard, Barbie’s popularity has slipped over the past decade. There were two major reasons for Barbie’s sales decline. First, the changing lifestyles of young girls are a concern for Mattel. Many young girls prefer to spend time with music, movies, or the Internet than play with traditional toys like dolls. Second, Barbie has suffered at the hands of new and innovative competition, including the Bratz doll line that gained significant market share during the early 2000s. The dolls, which featured contemporary, ethnic designs and skimpy clothes, were a stark contrast to Barbie and an immediate hit with young girls. (Ferrel & Hartline, 2011)
However, they can reverse their declining sales, since Mattel is a strong company that has strong brand recognition due to Barbie. In order to reverse the effect in Barbie sales they should do a research on cultures of different countries and develop dolls according to the girls preference’s in their countries. They can produce other Barbie themed products which will again create popularity in the market like Barbie T-shirts, interactive board and card games, architecture of Barbie houses and gadgets, educational videos and games and collectible items of Barbie dolls.
With new applications on computers, IPad, Iphones and social networking sites like Facebook, twitter and other games sites, they will be able to manage its declining sales. Another way is to create annual events and contests around the countries and organise games, beauty contests among children who will be dressed as their favourite Barbie character.
Moreover, developing Barbie with celebrity figures can further enhance the Barbie declining sales. Mattel should not give up on the Barbie sales as with the right marketing approach
References: Communication Implications for Quality Control. (2007). Retrieved 2012, from www.awpagesociety.com: http://www.awpagesociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Mattel_CaseStudy.pdf Ferrel, O. C., & Hartline, M. D. (2011). Marketing Strategy (5th ed.). (M. Acuna, Ed.) Cengage Learning. Retrieved 2012