Living | Angry Birds game may top holiday toy sales
'Most wanted' holiday toys
1. Angry Birds Knock on Wood Game — Mattel2. Beyblade Metal Fusion — Hasbro
3. Big Action Construction Site — Fisher-Price
4. DaGeDar — Cepia
5. FyrFlyz — iStar Entertainment
6. Hot Wheels Wall Tracks — Mattel
7. InnoTab — VTECH
8. Lazer Stunt Chaser — Thinkway Toys
9. The Logo Board Game — Spin Master
10. LeapPad Explorer — LeapFrog
11. LEGO Alien Conquest & Ninjago — LEGO
12. Lite Sprites — WowWee
13. Monster High Dead Tired Line — Mattel
14. Nerf Vortex Line — Hasbro
15. Redakai — Spin Master
16. LaLaLoopsy Silly Hair Doll — MGA
17. Spy Net Stealth Video Glasses — JAKKS Pacific
18. 3D Breakthrough Puzzle — MEGA Brands
Source: TimetoPlayMag.com
NEW YORK — Mattel's Angry Birds Knock on Wood Game, a $14.99 physical version of the popular smartphone app, and Hasbro's $24.99 Beyblade Metal Fusion kits may top holiday toy sales this year, TimetoPlayMag.com says.
Also on the magazine's "Most Wanted" list released Tuesday are Mattel's Monster High Dead Tired line, which features various deathly pale dolls and accessories, including a pink Monster High Draculaura jewelry box coffin for $19.99, and JAKKS Pacific's Spy Net Stealth Video Glasses for $39.99.
"Consumers are looking for a lot of play value in a toy," said Jim Silver, editor-in-chief of the New York toy-review site. "They'll spend $10, they'll spend $100, but they want to know that this is a toy that is going to be played with."
To lure consumers who have remained cautious about spending amid the stock-market turbulence and the nation's 9.1 percent unemployment rate, many of the toys on this year's list have lower starting prices, with expanded accessories sets available for an extra charge, Silver said.
"You could spend a lot more, but families who can't spend more can also have a piece of the hottest toy," Silver said.
Toy sellers typically generate about a third of annual revenue from fourth-quarter holiday sales. Higher prices may help keep revenue during the season unchanged from a year earlier while unit sales decline, said Robert Carroll, an analyst at UBS in New York.
"With the price increases that we've seen with the major manufacturers on the dollar basis, you're likely to see the sales flat," Carroll said. "But on a unit basis, units will probably be down slightly."
The toy industry tends to be resilient, Carroll said. Industry sales slid 1 percent in 2009 as gross domestic product dropped 3.5 percent, according to a Goldman Sachs report last week.
U.S. toy sales hit $21.7 billion last year, up from $21.5 billion in 2009, retail researcher NPD Group reported.
Mattel and Hasbro, the two largest U.S. toy companies, are focusing innovations on their most popular brands, such as Barbie and Transformers, Carroll said.
"Given the uncertainty that they are facing, you're likely to see them focus their orders on core brands that tend to perform well regardless of what's going on," Carroll said.
Goldman Sachs lowered Hasbro's and Mattel's 2012 earnings estimates, citing U.S. economic volatility and the possibility the stronger dollar may hurt the companies' international sales.
