360pi Launches Exclusive Retail Report on 2016 Holiday Toy Trends

New assortment trends report provides retailers and brands with
critical insight into Toys this season

OTTAWA, Ontario–(BUSINESS WIRE)–360pi,
the leader in product and price intelligence, today released the first
report in its illustrious Holiday
Insights Series. This report, Unwrapping Holiday Toy Strategies,
sampled over 160 top-trending Toys & Games products matched 1:1 between
Amazon, Wal-Mart, Target, and Toys “R” Us¹ and compared
respective hot holiday lists between the same retailers.

This year, assortment is the crux of most retailers’ holiday Toys
strategies, granting them a unique opportunity to play competitively
without sacrificing margins. Here are some of the other key emerging
trends from the report:

Amazon getting strategic on more than just price.

In spite of their seemingly boundless product offerings, Amazon actually
presented the least amount of product overlap in their list of predicted
hot holiday Toys with the retailers surveyed. As of October 31, 2016,
only 7% of Amazon’s Top 100 Best-Selling Toys were listed by other
retailers as top trending Toys.

What’s trending this year? The ghost of Toys past.

Looking at this year’s top Toy trends, we see a few new contenders,
including newly sprouted Hatchimals, produced by the ever-popular brand,
Spin-Master. However, we also see a number of retailer exclusive
products that are analogous versions or expanded offerings straight from
last year’s lineup, like Pie In the Face Game, Zoomer Dino and Bunchems.

Marketplaces can be valuable, but be wary.

Amazon had the second highest percentage of unavailable products (18%)²
in the sampled selection of self-reported top Toys; however, when
Amazon’s marketplaces were factored in, the number of unavailable
products dropped to 0%. Conversely, Target, offering no marketplace
environment, exhibited the highest percentage of unavailable products
(32%) – that’s roughly one third! Our analysis also found that on
October 31, select Wal-Mart marketplace sellers were capitalizing on the
retailer’s out-of-stocks on the favored Hatchimals products, charging 4X
the initial price of the product.

Amazon and Wal-Mart mirror each other’s price changes.

Despite Amazon changing prices on 10% more of the sampled product set
than Wal-Mart in the month of October, on average, Wal-Mart moved in
lockstep with Amazon’s price change movements, indicating that the
retailers are likely closely monitoring each other.

Toys “R” Us still grappling with pricing perception.

Although Toys “R” Us was the most price dynamic, as characterized by the
vast number of daily price change fluctuations on the sampled product
set, the retailer still priced higher than all sampled retailers,
including 22% above Amazon, on average.

Unwrapping Holiday Toy Strategies is part of 360pi’s fourth
annual, award-winning Holiday
Insights Series, delivering subscribers exclusive weekly holiday
product and pricing trends across several major retailers, including
Amazon, Wal-Mart and Target. Sign
up for the Holiday Insights Series to download the report and to
receive 360pi’s special Black Friday and Cyber Monday analyses, a
must-have for every retailer and brand manufacturer this holiday.

About 360pi

360pi
derives profitable insights from product and pricing big data to help
leading omnichannel retailers, etailers, and brand manufacturers compete
and win with shoppers. 360pi’s customer base accounts for over US$200
billion in annual product sales and includes Ace Hardware, Build.com,
and Overstock.com, along with several Fortune 500 consumer products
companies. With the majority of in-store purchases being influenced
online, 360pi helps retailers and brands successfully navigate the
multi-channel landscape with real-time insight into who is selling what,
where, when, why and for how much. Ultimately, 360pi customers make
smarter decisions faster to drive increased revenues and margins across
all channels.

¹ This analysis does not factor in deals such as coupons,
“buy one get one”, or loyalty offers, though recognizes that many
retailers will rely heavily on these types of promotional tactics to
drive performance this holiday.

² Does not include marketplace sellers or third-party
providers. Marketplace sellers do not exist on Target or Toys “R” Us
websites.

Contacts

Ketner Group PR + Marketing (for 360pi)
Aidan Griffin, 512-794-8876
360piPR@ketnergroup.com
or
360pi
Brit
Gracka, 613-562-2525 x 511
brit.gracka@360pi.com