Out of the box thinking

With the play doll market swinging back to products that support traditional, imaginative play, smaller retailers have had to swing with it.

Whether the demand for these products drives merchandising or the imaginative displays spark sales is hard to say. It's much like the chicken and the egg dilemma.

For The Play House in Durham, N.C., this kind of hands-on merchandising has always been a part of its strategy but has been reinforced by increased demand. "It's really two-fold," explains Donna Fredrick, manager and buyer at The Play House. "We've always done (merchandising) this way; it's just that now there's an even bigger demand for dolls."

Toys and Treasures of Lincoln, Neb., is in the same boat according to owner Kathy Abbott. "I'm seeing a historic throwback," she says. "Parents are becoming turned off by some of the mass products and are turning back to smaller stores like us to find out what their kids can play with."

King Arthur's Court in Cincinnati, Ohio, still uses an entire wall of shelf space reminiscent of a previous owner's interior design. But head buyer Leah Tennyson says that the new ownership undertook significant renovations to the space, and that it's really what they're doing with the product that is making the difference. "There used to be more product in boxes," she says. "Now it's a matter of having it out of boxes for kids to touch—at least one of each type."

Support of these trends comes from the manufacturing side and is reinforced by larger retailers as well. "We have been watching the market very closely, and we talk to our customers (like WalMart and Target)," says Sandra Crawford, president and general manager of Zapf Creations. "What they will carry is what people will be taking home."

So what exactly does all this mean in terms of merchandising? With a few exceptions, long gone are the days of bulky shelf-based merchandising or rows of dolls that appear as though they are facing a firing squad. Since more traditional play dolls representing more imaginative play are leading the market, it isn't surprising that the number one priority with retailers is to get them off of the shelves and into the hands of the kids.

"We want to make sure the dolls are out there for the kids to touch and interact with and relate to," says Shelley Delrocco, co-owner of KidzQuest in Winter Park, Fla.

We probably heard it from Barbie first: "Accessorize, accessorize, accessorize!" And that's exactly what retailers are depending upon to sell their products. For baby dolls, retailers are placing them in carriages or bassinets, or setting them up at their own tea party. For rag dolls and fashion dolls, the clothes make the doll. Store-goers are finding customer-accessible wardrobes and dressers full of clothes an enticing part of the shopping experience. In this way, retailers are using their floor space, which is sometimes very limited, to create life-like play environments. "We want to bring the dolls to life as if they are people themselves," says Delrocco. Nancy Kokesch, who owns The Country Loft and Doll House, uses an open-air loft space (thus the name of the store) where dolls are grouped by manufacturer as a background to the play environment.

"This year, we're focusing on clothing and accessories," confirms Donna Frederick of The Play House in Durham, N.C. "Once they've bought a doll, people want the accessories. When we're able to display the dolls with their clothes in the same space, it gives them a life."

And that life is extended by a change of clothes, according to Tom Courtney of Tonner Dolls. "The customer feels like they're getting more than one doll when they have more than one outfit for it."

Clearly, these merchandising "displays" are activity-based. Some retailers are taking this theme to a whole new level where the child becomes completely involved in the world of the dolls via special parties or events held in stores.

KidzQuest hosts monthly events called Play Days which are themed on the characters and lives of chosen dolls. Most recently, the store hosted a house-warming party for Madeline and friends, where kids were invited to come dressed as their favorite character from the popular stories. "They actually brought gifts for Madeline," reports Shelley Delrocco, who adds that the events are engineered with the hope that kids will take home a party souvenir: a new doll.

At Creative Kidstuff in Minneapolis, Minn., what started out to be a novel activity surrounding the Groovy Girls line quickly became a regular program for many other products. Nancy Newman, director of special events, tells how a sewing class, for which she created patterns for the Groovy Girls, spawned other events at the store. "Imaginative play was the key in those first few classes," she explains. They were so successful, that she has planned slumber parties, supported by Manhattan Toy. The manufacturer supplies activity kits that include jewelry, tattoos and other activities for up to 25 girls. Newman says that the party theme has worked well with other products as well. "When our buyers see something that's hot, we approach the manufacturer for their support of this kind of activity."

While most manufacturers place the responsibility for creative merchandising on the retailers, a few are making more of an effort to participate in the successful merchandising of their products. In addition to offering suggestions, some manufacturers are developing programs with key retailers in which retailers can purchase kits that include product and special display pieces at a reduced cost.

Tonner is developing such a program for its Tyler Wentworth fashion dolls, which will include a special series of the dolls with different hair and make-up, outfits, a special cabinet and plaques of the logo.

Zapf Creations has developed what it calls "aisle architecture," or an eight-foot Zapf "boutique" that it supplies to its retailers. "The point of difference," explains Sandra Crawford, "is making a transition from just a place to buy to a place to have an experience."

Jakks Pacific finds merchandising its Elle dolls a particular challenge because of their size. "There are not a lot of other 15-inch fashion or play dolls on the market," explains marketing manager Michelle Denniston. The size is not conducive to merchandising with its smaller counterparts in the mass market, which is why the company may be rethinking its strategy to include more specialty retailers and even the home shopping market.

Flexibility is exactly what's needed. While it's true that the recent return to popularity of dolls that foster more imaginative play has boosted the niche of specialty and small retailers in the market, manufacturers can't be too quick to take sides.

The bottom line is looking at what children play with, according to Jennifer Pitcher, director of marketing for play dolls at Lee Middleton Original Dolls, who says the company is definitely faced with a duality in its approach to merchandising. "While we want a unified brand image, we are very cognizant of the needs of our retailers," she adds, which includes the larger stores along with the smaller ones. Lee Middleton will become as involved as the retailers want them to, and while people can expect to see a certain look, the company likes to work with smaller retailers to make the most of their limited space. "All the elements—design, packaging and presentation—are taken into account with the ultimate goal of creating something kids like to play with," says Pitcher.

While larger retailers are somewhat resigned to using shelf space as the primary merchandising format, if certain dolls are connected with a movie or marketed across gender lines as in the case of action dolls like Cy Girls, alternative merchandising opportunities present themselves. "Sometimes we'll have special space designated for those items," says Jim Myer, a buyer of boys' toys for KB Toy. "In the case of a movie-related product like the Lara Croft doll from Tomb Raider, we are able to get merchandising materials from the studio as well as the manufacturer. Bringing it together under one umbrella makes more of an impact."

According to Myer, the crossover factor means big business when boys are buying female action dolls. "We see the majority of the customers for these products going to the action figure aisle, so that's where we put them," he says. Before Tomb Raider was a movie, Myers adds, it was a video game and a comic book; so it's mostly male gamers and collectors who are drawn to this doll market.