Barbie Is Far From Her Glory Days, As Mattel Sales Fall

Barbie is far from her glory days, as Mattel sales plummet this quarter. Barbie sale rates have fallen 19% and total revenue fell even lower than predicted by analysts.

Long gone are the days when Barbie was America’s number one toy, and every little girl wanted a beautiful doll of her own. Barbie was deemed the ideal Christmas and birthday gift for little girls for years and years, but it was eventually dethroned, as the years passed and the new generation shifted towards high tech toys, rather than regular dolls.

Along the years, Barby has faced severe scrutiny, as the doll was believed to convey an unrealistic image on the female body and to have affected the self esteem of the girls who loved Barbie so much during their childhood. Some girls actually took looking like Barby a little bit too seriously, but Valeria Lukyanova really took it to the next level by becoming a real life version of the gorgeous toy bombshell. She is known as the Human Barbie Doll.

People have always had homogenous opinions regarding the Barbie doll, but she has reached a point where people seem to have forgotten about her, as the new ideal presents for kids are gadgets. And Barbie seems to be losing this battle with iPhones, iPads, or at least that is what the numbers seem to be showing.

Barbie’s total revenue this last quarter reached a mere $988.2 million, which is a very low figure considering that the worst case scenario predicted by analysts was at $991.9 million.

A re-branding strategy is becoming inevitable, as the Barbie doll needs to make it somehow into the 21st century. However, since the doll has managed to make it somehow ever since its release back in 1959, Mattel Inc. will undoubtedly bring Barbie into the spotlight again.

“We think there is potential for a successful turnaround and for shares to be higher over the longer term.” says Gerrick Johnson, financial analyst with BMO Capital Markets.

It might take quite some time for Mattel to come up with a new and improved Barbie that could appeal to millennials, but if there is one thing that you can count on is that once it comes out, it will be absolutely amazing.
Image Source: slashgear