Toys shoppers also devoted to national brands - 1994 Power Brands, part 2

Discount Store News, Oct 17, 1994

When families look for toys, they want national name brand merchandise. Unbranded toys may attract some cost-conscious shoppers, but the bulk of the business will probably never go to nameless brands.

According to this year's Power Brands report of consumer buying preferences, 75% of shoppers said they look for toys with a specific brand in mind. While private label toys may be tried by half the surveyed respondents, 53% of shoppers said that if they couldn't find their preferred brand, they would skip the purchase entirely. They wouldn't settle for available merchandise.

Toys: Consumer Brand Preference

                  (Among consumers who shopped discount stores in the past
                  year)

                       All Discount

Power Brands(1)           Stores      Wal-Mart   Kmart   Target
Mattel                      27%         27%       28%     32%
Milton Bradley              15          16        14      13
Fisher-Price                12          14        13      10
Nintendo                     9           6         9       5
Tonka                       7            7         6       5
Playskool                    6           5         6      10
Lego                         6           6         5       9
Parker Brothers              6           5         6       6
Little Tikes                 5           6         5       5
Hasbro                       4           4         5       5

Rank by Store managers(2) Fisher-Price Mattel Playskool Little Tikes Milton Bradley Hasbro Murray Huffy Lego Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

(1)Based upon discount store consumers' response to the question: "If you were shopping for (product) in discount department stores, which brand of that product would you want?"

(2)Based upon store managers' response to the question: "What are the best performing brands in (department)?"

Source: DSN/Leo J. Shapiro & Associates, July 1994

Life stage analysis: Toys

                   (top brands by age group)

      Busters              Boomers                Empty Nesters


     (Under 35)            (35-49)                (50 and over)

Mattel          24%   Mattel           26%   Mattel           39%
Milton Bradley  16    Milton Bradley   16    Fisher-Price     19
Fisher-Price    11    Lego             11    Tonka            12
Playskool       10    Nintendo         11    Nintendo          8
Nintendo         8    Fisher-Price     10    Milton Bradley    7

Source: DSN/Leo J. Shapiro & Associates, July 1994

Boomers, today's crop of parents, are particularly unlikely to settle for less than their preferred brands. Two-thirds said they would skip the purchase. Empty Nesters, though, are much more likely to switch to an alternative gift for their grandchildren if the brand they had in mind is unavailable.

Luckily for discounters, toys shoppers feel well served by current assortments at mass market outlets. On a nine-point scale, shoppers scored their confidence level in finding their preferred toys 7.53. More than four out of 10 shoppers said they would rate their confidence a nine, meaning they feel certain of finding their preferred brand. Although these results are down slightly from the 1993 survey, they are about average for the previous five years.

The consumer list of preferred toys brands closely mirrors the retailer's list of best performers, although in a slightly different order. The two groups have seven brands in common: Mattel, Fisher-Price, Milton Bradley, Lego, Little Tikes, Playskool and Hasbro. Consumers also report they look for Nintendo (considering the electronic games to be toys rather than CE department merchandise), Tonka and Parker Brothers. Retailers' top performers include Murray and Huffy bicycles and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the hottest licensed program in toys today.

As a result of these brand endorsements, three toys labels made the Power Brands list, including Nintendo. Mattel and Fisher-Price are considered Power Brands for their strength with both retailers and consumers. Milton Bradley and Playskool are near Power Brands; Milton Bradley just missed the Power Brands list due to weakness with retailers, and Playskool was weak with consumers, according to survey responses.

Brand preference varied widely by region of the country, retail outlet and age group.

Mattel was the No. 1 brand overall except in the Northeast, where Milton Bradley got the edge. While Mattel was the top brand in consumers' minds in the Midwest and West, the rest of the line-up was quite dissimilar. In the Midwest, Fisher-Price was No.2 followed by Milton Bradley and Little Tikes. In the West, Mattel was followed by Nintendo, Playskool and Lego.

The top five brands for Kmart shoppers followed the overall lineup except that the No.5 brand was Parker Brothers. For Wal-Mart shoppers, the changes were in the fourth place, Tonka, and a tie between Lego and Little Tikes for fifth. For Target shoppers, Playskool was in fourth place and Lego in fifth.

By lifestage, Mattel was the overwhelming favorite among Empty Nesters by a 2-to-1 margin over No.2 Fisher-Price, followed by Tonka, Nintendo and Milton Bradley.