Licensed non-sports trading cards dealt a mixed hand

Discount Store News, May 17, 1993 by Robert Barrese

The flood of sports trading cards into the market has forced manufacturers to refocus their attention toward licensing, although many discounters are apprehensive about the success of non-sports collectibles.

"What we are seeing is a reduction of sports and, particularly, non-sports trading cards," said Wayne Stockton, divisional merchandise manager for Henderson, N.C.-based Rose's Stores. "The traditional sports cards: baseball, football and basketball are still strong. Novelty cards such as wrestling did well but tapered off," he added.

In most Rose's Stores about 10 feet of aisle space in the candy and snacks department is set aside for trading cards and plans are underway to cut back additional shelf space, Stockton said. About 50% of the space is Rose's planogram, a mixture of accessories, such as, clear sheet card holders, storage boxes and rebagged goods. The other 50% of shelf space, Stockton referred to as promotionals, encompasses more flexibility.

"Non-sports trading cards tend to be a little dangerous," said a buyer from Stuarts, Franklin, Mass. "It's kind of like buying fad clothing. The Little Mermaid cards were the last ones that really did well."

Over the last two years, there has been a general contraction in the trading card industry which had followed a boom period in the late '80s.

David Wells, a buyer for GrandPa's, Bridgeton, Mo., said that this year the chain has cut out non-sports cards from its planogram altogether.

"Last year we went real strong on non-sports cards [including Disney, G.I. Joe and Terminator 2 cards]. Last year we wanted to be all things to all people with trading cards," Wells continued. "We elected this year not to buy any [non-sports] cards. Every store we went into complained about the lack of sales."

Despite discontinuing non-sports collectibles, GrandPa's will not abandon sports cards, like baseball and basketball, but will cut back on inventory. "Right now our sports cards are in a holding pattern. There are a lot of negatives to the category but we feel we need to hold on to it," Wells said.

Although, Wells added, trading card accessories like laminated card holders and card binders sell well and may be expanded this year.

At GrandPa's, trading cards have been moved from sporting goods to the toy department and are now at the front of the store, wherever shelf space is made available, he said.

The "clutter" of baseball and other sports cards had forced Topps Co. to drastically cut down on production, according to Timm Boyle, senior account executive for Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Topps. Boyle said the abundance of sports cards confused consumers on what to buy. The long-term effects of competition in a saturated market may cause serious financial troubles for trading card companies.

"If Topps has been affected, and we have been around for 40 years, then some of the smaller players may drop out," Boyle added.

On the other hand, non-sports card sales, which only comprise a fraction of the industry, were not nearly as affected, he indicated.

Topps is banking on the success of anticipated summer blockbusters--director Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park" and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Jack Slater in the "Last Action Hero"--to launch its new lines of movie adaptation cards.

Stockton said he does not see a boom in card licensing. "It depends on the license, but I don't see a shift toward licensing. If 'Jurassic Park' takes off, we are going to jump on it, no question about it," Stockton said.

"Generally speaking, non-sports cards mirror what they represent," Boyle said. "If the movie does well in the box office, the cards will do well, if the movie flops, the cards will sit there [on the shelves]."

Topps' Star Wars Galaxy, a 140 card, six prism card series, features works by over 50 artists and never before seen art and photography from the Lucasfilm archives.

To combine both mediums of comic books and trading cards, Topps Comics Inc., a Topps subsidiary which was formed last year, inserts cards with comics in clear polywrapped plastic bags. It will release "Friday the 13th, Jason Goes to Hell" movie adaptation comic book next month which will contain collector cards that are exclusive to the polybag line.

According to George White, a representative for SkyBox International, Research Triangle Park, N.C., 85% of trading card sales is related to sports down from 95% just two years ago. "About one-sixth of the dollars Americans spend on entertainment is related to sports," he said. "It's only natural that non-sports cards will grow, especially in comics."

SkyBox has signed a licensing agreement with DC Comics to produce cards featuring characters from Milestone Media, a new line of multicultural comic books distributed by DC. Milestone: The Dakota Universe Trading Cards is designed to be a reference guide to four new Milestone comics: "Static," 'Hardware," "Icon" and "Blood Syndicate." The cards will be available in June.

Art Young, a representative of Cardz Distribution, Grand Prairie, Texas, said that about 30% of the company's sales derive from its discount and specialty store clients.