Mattel is working to catch as much as an surprising surge in shopper demand for toys as the vacation procuring season rolls close to, CEO Ynon Krei
Mattel is working to catch as much as an surprising surge in shopper demand for toys as the vacation procuring season rolls close to, CEO Ynon Kreiz advised CNBC Friday.
“We’re seeing large demand for our merchandise, greater than we anticipated,” he mentioned in an interview with Jim Cramer on “Mad Cash.” “With such surge in demand, we at the moment are working arduous to have the ability to fulfill it.”
Mattel, the producer of iconic toy and sport manufacturers like Barbie and Uno, shocked Wall Road when it posted a third-quarter revenue that greater than doubled analyst projections. The corporate recorded web revenue of $316 million, which was 4 instances higher than pre-pandemic revenue, on $1.6 billion in gross sales.
Mattel suffered losses within the a whole lot of thousands and thousands of {dollars} within the earlier two quarters when enterprise was upended by the coronavirus lockdown.
“Simply extraordinary progress in demand, coming from a decline within the first half into such progress within the third quarter heading into the vacation season,” Kreiz mentioned. “We’re working very arduous to have the ability to attempt to fulfill it.”
With kids throughout the nation studying from residence and spending extra time inside through the pandemic, toys started to fly off the cabinets as mother and father sought methods to maintain kids occupied outdoors of laptops, cellphones and different applied sciences. Retailers have been pushed to refill their toy and board sport inventories, which helped Mattel develop gross sales final quarter by 10%.
Barbie is one toy model that flew off the cabinets. Mattel, which producers the long-lasting line of dolls, mentioned it was up virtually 30% in every section. Producing $532.2 million in product sales, it was the model’s finest exhibiting since 2003 as the corporate sees optimistic reception for a extra inclusive vary of dolls.
“Demand for barbie grew by 50%,” Kreiz mentioned. “It actually speaks to the power and ongoing momentum of the model.”
The corporate now has its sights set on the fourth-quarter vacation procuring season and estimates that year-over-year gross sales will proceed to develop.
Regardless of the thousands and thousands of People who stay out of labor because of the results of widespread lockdowns earlier this yr, the analysis agency NPD initiatives that households, particularly wealthier ones, could have much more to spend on toys from cash leftover by decreased trip and journey spending this yr.