Barbie’s new girls
May 21, 2007 Leave a comment
’twas back in August 2005 that I posted "Competition: Watching the Perimeter". I was inspired by an article in Baseline Magazine "Barbie Lost Her Groove, Competitors Picked It Up".
Seems Mattel is keen to bounce back in a big way: online. Additions to their Barbie ‘fleet’ include plastic "Barbie Girls," an MP3 player that can be accessorized like a doll. The ‘girl’ has an online component; social networking and shopping in a virtual world on the web. From the post:
The overall audience for Barbie sites has declined slightly over the last year, and has failed to grow over the last three years. According to Nielsen NetRatings, the Barbie site attracted about 1.9 million unique visitors from home and work in April 2007, down from 2.1 million in April 2006. Those numbers are in line with about 2 million visitors in the same month in 2004.
Meanwhile, online competitor Webkinz (virtual plushies) has increased market share significantly, usurping Barbie and and Neopets (all targeting roughly the same age demographic).