Zhu Zhu Pets toy hamster by Cepia
You always figured that a rodent who drives his own car would be equipped to withstand the recession, suitable? As stores ramp up for the all-important getaway shopping year, at least the toy merchants know that they have a hit on their palms. Fuzzy, digital toy hamsters termed Zhu Zhu Animals are traveling off the cabinets at key shops like Walmart and Toys “R” Us. Demand for the animals is so higher that Zhu Zhus, which retail for $8 at Walmart, are likely for $60 on secondary-industry web pages like Amazon.com and eBay.com. The hamsters, which have names like Mr. Squiggles, Pipsqueak and Num Nums, scoot about and coo like authentic animals. Children can increase equipment like a automobile, a skateboard and a wheel to their possess small hamster earth without the need of the inevitable mess or traumatic demise. “This is the most popular toy of the yr,” says Gerald Storch, chairman and CEO of Toys “R” Us. “You will find unquestionably no doubt about it.”
Why are Zhu Zhus offering so well? 1st, they price significantly less than $10, a cost that is ideal for the situations. This period, people are looking for compact, lower-expense collectible toys as an alternative the significant-ticket merchandise. “There is not a hell of a good deal of higher technological innovation in the Zhu Zhu Pets,” claims Sean McGowan, a toy-business analyst at Needham & Co. “That’s how they are so damn reasonably priced.”
And even if the idea of a lifelike rodent crawling around your carpet creeps you out a little bit, you have to acknowledge that the critters are form of sweet. “They have a diploma of realism to them,” suggests McGowan, who predicts the Zhu Zhus will spur the biggest toy fad considering that Tickle Me Elmo was on cabinets in 1996. “They surface to be pondering about what they are accomplishing. Which is endearing.”
The Zhu Zhu Pets never have the advantage of a tv demonstrate or film furnishing free of charge advertising for the brand name. Nor do they have access to the cash that a single of the major toy providers, like Mattel or Hasbro, can give. The Zhu Zhu Pets are a small-enterprise good results story. The toys are produced by Cepia, a 7-year-outdated St. Louis, Mo., firm with only 16 staff. “It is really fascinating, as you converse to executives from other toy businesses,” states Storch. “They are thumping by themselves on the facet of the head, asking yourself, ‘How did I miss this?'”
Russell Hornsby, the founder of Cepia and a previous Mattel staff, experienced extensive needed to make a robotic pet for children. All through a brainstorming session in May possibly 2008, Hornsby and his fellow Cepia execs narrowed the selections down to a few: a dog, a fish and a hamster. “Out of these, [a live] hamster is the one mother and father minimum like having,” states Natalie Hornsby, the firm’s marketing director, and Russell Hornsby’s daughter. “So we figured a toy substitute would have some benefit.”
Over the ensuing months, as the prototypes were currently being created, Russell Hornsby started off browsing YouTube, and seen a thing that bolstered his choice: a slew of movies starring hamsters. He figured his toys could also develop into YouTube hits, and they have. “When they are managing on the wheels, going by tunnels and driving a automobile, it appears to be like like the bodily manifestation of a YouTube video clip,” states Storch. “Which is 1 of the motives Zhu Zhus are so scorching. It is so amazing that men and women enjoy to trade them and submit them.”
This spring, Toys “R” Us examined the Zhu Zhu Animals in the Phoenix location. “When the initially numbers came in, we could hardly feel them,” claims Storch. “We fell in adore promptly.” So have people. Cepia also executed a intelligent promoting system. During the summertime, the firm hosted hamster-demonstration functions at Key League Baseball game titles, of all sites. The Zhu Zhus attended ball online games in Atlanta, Arizona, Philadelphia, Texas, Seattle and Washington, D.C. Cepia also actively courted the mommy bloggers, sponsoring some 250 “hamster functions” at the residences of bloggers throughout the country. Cepia transported item to the moms, who invited 10 youngsters and their dad and mom to play with the toys. “The acceptance of the bloggers was a huge legitimizer, believe me,” suggests Natalie Hornsby.
At this level, Cepia is just striving to keep up with demand. Hornsby is presently in China overseeing an growth of the firm’s manufacturing potential. In excess of the previous several months, Cepia has opened a few new factories in the Shenzhen spot, which now provides the business 4 services. Not that the source shortages essentially harm the model. “Zhu Zhu Animals have crossed that tipping point, in which scarcity is part of the attraction of the products,” claims McGowan, who predicts the animals will rack up $70 million in sales by year’s close. “Getting it presents you some more social standing. ‘Yeah, I got my hamsters. I worked the procedure. I know a person.'”
If you never have that within relationship, you may just have to wait around. “Regrettably, shoppers are going to have to simply call their neighborhood stores and be there when the toys get there,” says Natalie Hornsby. “But the reality is, millions of hamsters have been transported. And thousands and thousands extra are coming.”
