Fisher-Price holds on to no. 1 position - top toy brands at discount stores - Top Brands, Part 1: Store Manager Survey

Discount Store News, Oct 1, 1990

Fisher-Price Holds On to No. 1 Position

Fisher-Price was again the top ranked toy brand with discount store managers but in a much weakened position from last year, according to results of DSN's 1990 Top Brands Survey.

Probably still feeling the impact of last year's manufacturing and distribution troubles, this year's plant closings and layoffs, and the after effects of its spinoff from parent Quaker Oats, Fisher-Price's position as the best performing brand in the toy department is being challenged by second-place Mattel, which advanced in the minds of many store managers.

Mattel lost ground at upscalers like Target, where the mention rate was cut in half from last year. Mattel tied for first place with F-P on the 1989 survey, but fell to third this year behind F-P and Playskool.

Last year, store managers named F-P as the top performing brand by a 1-to-2 margin over Mattel. This year, the margin closed considerably.

No. 3 Playskool, No. 4 Little Tikes, Milton Bradley (No. 5) and Hasbro (No. 6) all held onto their 1989 ranking and with greater strength.

F-P was named a top performer by fewer than six out of 10 store managers this year compared with seven out of 10 in 1989. Four of 10 managers named Mattel a top performer, up from three of 10 a year ago.

However weakened, F-P remains the best performing brand in toys due largely to its mentions by managers at upscale discounters such as Target and conventional discounter Ames.

In fact, F-P's best showing was recorded at Ames. More than nine out of 10 Ames store managers named F-P a best performer in the toy department, a gain of nine percentage points from 1989.

A newcomer to the Top 10 list in 1990 is not a brand but a license. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was named by store managers as a top performing brand often enough to rank it as the No. 6 brand this year, tied with Hasbro. The Turtles also were the No. 5 ranked toy brand by K mart and Target store managers.

Among all upscale discounters, The Turtles also ranked fifth. And in the West, Ninja Turtles became the No. 4 toy brand, outpacing Milton Bradley, Little Tikes and Huffy.

In addition to The Turtles, new to the Top 10 list in toys this year is Parker Brothers, (No. 10) indicating the renewed popularity of board games.

Gone from the Top 10 list in 1990 are Kenner, which tied Lego for seventh place last year, and Tonka, which tied Huffy for the No. 9 spot on the 1989 survey.

This year, Kenner fell to 14th behind Tonka (No. 11), Murray and Nintendo (tied for 12th). Kenner's best showing was at Ames, where managers mentioned the brand often enough to make it No. 5 on the toy list.

Huffy moved up to the No. 8 spot on the current survey and Lego fell to ninth this year, but with more responses.

Among conventional discounters such as K mart, Wal-Mart and Ames, the Top 10 toy brands mirrored the "all discounters" list. A major difference was F-P's hold on the No. 1 spot was slightly weaker and Mattel's position as the No. 2 brand was stronger. Playskool had a slightly weaker showing among conventional discounters, as did Lego.

Among upscale discounters, F-P had its best showing, although somewhat softened from 1989, but Mattel had its worst showing here. Managers at upscalers named Mattel a top performing brand half as often as they did last year. Only three in 10 upscale discount store managers named Mattel a top performer on the current survey compared to nearly eight of 10 in 1989.

Little Tikes, Milton Bradley, Hasbro, Huffy and Parker Brothers received fewer mentions as top performing brands this year among store managers at upscale discounters.

The toy brands gaining strength in the minds of store managers at upscale discount stores include Playskool, which nearly doubled its rate of mention this year, and Hasbro, which was mentioned as a top performer by one in 10 managers compared to half as many in 1989. Lego also substantially improved its showing among managers at upscalers.

At the individual discount store chains, the top five toy brands got reshuffled a bit.

Mattel and Playskool gained strength at K mart, Wal-Mart and Ames, but fell slightly at Target. Little Tikes was named a top performer more often this year than last year everywhere but at Ames, and Milton Bradley improved its standing as a top performer only at K mart.

At K mart, the top performing brands, in order, were Mattel, F-P, Playskool and Milton Bradley and Ninja Turtles tied for fifth. Little Tikes, Hasbro and Lego tied for sixth.

Wal-Mart store managers placed F-P first followed by Mattel, Little Tikes, Playskool and Huffy.

Ames store managers named F-P a top performing brand most often to make it the No. 1 brand at that chain followed by Mattel and Playskool in a tie for second, followed by Little Tikes and Kenner.

F-P was the top performer among Target managers followed by Playskool, Mattel, Little Tikes and Ninja Turtles.

F-P lost ground everywhere but in the South where it nudged up slightly to garner two-thirds the responses, followed by Mattel, with nearly half the managers naming it a top performer.